


For the Hierarchy

by Tuffet37



Series: Hierarchy Universe [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Language, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2017-12-06 23:32:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 35
Words: 81,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuffet37/pseuds/Tuffet37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU -First Contact War ended with humans becoming a client race of the turians.  Shepard joins the turian military hoping for a better life for herself and her family.  Life among the turians is not easy but the unexpected friendship of a fellow recruit, Garrus Vakarian, is more than she could have imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a prompt on the kinkmeme and found it intriguing, however all it ever garnered was some wank.  I took the basic premise and started writing this for myself.  This is AU but I'll try and stay in canon as much as possible. Also, I decided not to use the Reaper story arc as it is, as Mordin would say, problematic. 
> 
> Great big thanks and internet cookies to Mordinette for being my beta/sounding board/cheerleader! Thank you! 
> 
> I hope to post a new chapter every week, barring any unforeseen issues.  I hope you enjoy the ride!

The two Shepard women stood face to face in the small apartment they called home. The elder’s green eyes searched her daughter’s face for any sign of apprehension but found only excitement. She wasn’t sure when it had happened but now Hannah Shepard had to look up in order to see into her daughter’s stormy grey eyes. They both shared the same fiery red hair, the elder wearing it in a sleek bob while her daughter preferred just to pull it back into a ponytail. The young woman rolled her eyes at her mother’s fussing. The elder re-adjusted her daughter’s shirt for the fifth time that morning before engulfing her in a hug. 

"Mother, I’m going to miss my transport if you don’t stop fussing. Are you going to do this the whole way down to the space port?”

“I don’t understand why you want to do this already. Couldn’t you at least wait until you turned eighteen?”

“We talked about this, Mom. I want to give us a better life, and the only way to do that is to earn citizenship by enlisting with the turian military, and they start at fifteen. I’ll be fine.”

“You didn’t see how they were in the war; you have no idea what they are like.”

“The war ended nine years ago. Perhaps if both sides had been less inclined to shoot first we wouldn’t be a client race of theirs.”

“They attacked first!”

“Yes, and we shouldn’t have shot down the Council envoy’s ship. We need to let it go if we are going to prove to the galaxy that we aren’t another krogan waiting to happen.”

“I’ll say good-bye here so you don’t have to see me cry. I love you and your father would have been so proud of you.”

“Thanks Mom, I love you too.”

Giving her mother one last hug, she left the house she had grown up in. Unlike most of the kids in the colony, she wasn’t going to be stuck on Mindoir as a farmer for the rest of her life. There was a huge galaxy out there to see and she meant to see it.  
***  
Nearly twenty-four hours after leaving her home, Shepard arrived on Palaven. The line for new recruits in the spaceport was fairly long, the majority of those waiting being turian but at least there was a cover offering some protection against the sun and heat. She had been around turians all her life, after all they had a military outpost on the colony she had grown up on. But this, this was something new. The space port was pretty much wall-to-wall turians with a sprinkling of other races to confuse the eye. Colony markings of every design and color, turians of every shade of grey, brown and black surrounded her. Never in her life had she ever felt so small, even adult female turians stood head and shoulders above her. At least the turian recruits were closer to her size, many of them still waiting to go through their last big growth spurt. She had spent so much time gazing around her that she was startled to find she was next in line.

“Name, age, colony of birth,” the turian droned, clearly as bored as those standing in the line.

“Shepard, 15, Mindoir.”

The turian sighed, “Is that first or last name?”

“Uh last.”

“First name?”

“Do you really need it?”

He sighed again and rubbed his forehead. “Believe me I’ve heard them all. Just tell me so we can move this along.”

“Fine. It’s Lily.”

The turian nodded, “Head into the tent on your right for your physical.”

Shouldering her pack, she strode into the tent he had indicated. Another line greeted her here. In a whirlwind of activity, doctors, both turian and human, checked her out physically and placed implants in her. First she received an upgraded omni-tool, next came a permanent translator versus her old one via omni-tool and lastly an implant to protect her body from the increased radiation found on Palaven. 

Still following the line of recruits, albeit the shorter one for humans, she wound her way through the armory and was finally directed to take a seat on a truck to be ferried to the military installation where her training would begin.  
***  
The benches of the truck provided little comfort as the new recruits were jounced along. Young turians and humans sat intermingled on the benches. The male and female turians could only be distinguished from the slightly longer fringe on the males though they still hadn’t crept past the end of their heads yet. 

Shepard had to give it to the turians, they at least didn’t believe in segregating the recruits by species. After basic training was finished the two species tended to be separated, with humans becoming auxiliary units and the turians forming the main units for their military. Only a human with an outstanding recommendation from basic had any hope of making it into a turian unit. And from what she knew, that had only happened a few times so far since the end of the war. But she swore that she would be one of those select few.

Shepard was jolted out of her thoughts when she nearly fell against her neighbor, a young male turian, when the truck suddenly bounced to a stop.

“Sorry,” she mumbled to her bench mate.

He merely nodded as he waited for their release from the vehicle. The back lowered down and from outside they all could hear the order to fall out. They filed out of the vehicle, forming two neat lines in the hot sun. 

Shepard stood in the second row, turians and humans in front and beside her, so she could only see bits of their sergeant. He paced up and down the row as if he was eyeing them to put them up for sale. Behind him stood a metallic structure that was most likely the barracks that would become their home for the next year.

“Alright younglings, I’ll be in charge of the lot of you until further notice. My name is Sergeant Canicus. My job is to make sure that the first varren pup you run into doesn’t kill you. Today is a getting to know you day. You will go inside, stash your civvies in a locker, and return outside in your shiny new armor with your weapon in hand. Go!” Canicus bellowed.

As one, the lot of them made their way into the barracks. Inside, the room was a large open room with a row of beds on either side with a footlocker in front of each bunk. Those first inside grabbed the bunks nearest to the door.   
Shepard grabbed the first empty bunk she found, down near the end of one of the rows and stripped out of her clothes as fast as she could. The armor under-suit went on first and then her armor. Her personal belongings went into the locker and she grabbed her rifle and headed back outside. Her speed had enabled her to join the first row and a quick glance showed that she was the first human done. The bad news, however, was that now she was in the front row, where the Sergeant could easily see her. She silently counted how many humans were in her unit, only ten, with twenty turians making up the bulk of her fellow recruits. The Sergeant was an imposing older turian, his plates nearly black with bright yellow colony markings. He stopped his pacing directly in front of the human female, the first human done in fact, beating even some of the turians. 

“What? A human not squeamish about showing off their squishy body to their fellow recruits?” Canicus mocked.

“Sir, if I was squeamish...I wouldn’t have joined the military,” Shepard replied, her eyes facing forward.

Canicus barked a laugh. He had been training recruits for ten years now, a thankless job most times but every now and then, he knew what he did mattered. Most humans that came through here had made mediocre soldiers at best, perhaps they lost the desire to fight after how the Relay incident had ended. But this little female...well she had some spunk, he would keep an eye on her. 

Seeing the rest had finally fallen in, Canicus returned to his pacing.

“Alright whelps, now we are going to tour this fine facility which will be your home until further notice.”   
***  
A tour of camp had entailed a fast jog around the perimeter before dinner. The heat of Palaven was something that she hoped she would adjust to as time went on. But at least for this first run, the sun had been setting when they had begun. Sheer willpower had insured that she hadn’t been the slowest in the unit.

After dinner, they had been forced to sit in the mess to watch an instructional video on how to clean their rifles before finally being released to shower before lights out. Now finally, Shepard stood under the cool water in the communal shower, more like a giant box of nozzles to hose down thirty people at once, she thought to herself. She strolled out of the shower room naked, heading for her bunk. 

“Hey red, looking good, what’s your name?” one of her fellow humans called out to her.

Shepard chose to answer him with a good old-fashioned hand signal, she flipped him the bird. Once at her footlocker she pulled out a tank top and underwear to sleep in. The grey plated turian with the blue colony markings in the bed to her right had witnessed the exchange curiously.

“I’m not sure what the meaning of that hand gesture is.”

Shepard grinned over at him, “It means fuck off, fuck you, and also up yours; all of which I believe are self explanatory.”

The turian chuckled, “Sadly I don’t think it would mean much for us since we only have three digits.”

“Just use your middle one; any human will get the gist of it.”

“I’m Garrus by the way.”

“Shepard.”

“Oh, I thought it was Red, since everyone was calling you that.”

“Uh, no, they were calling me that because of my red hair and they don’t know my first name.”

“So why not tell them?”

“I’d rather not hear any cracks about it.”

“Ouch, that bad?”

“I think so.”


	2. Chapter 2

The days began to blur together, the same routine every day. Jogs around the perimeter, hand-to-hand training, first aid, tech training, and finally weapons practice. That was the highlight of her day, the shooting range, the only place she felt comfortable. The thought of that first time still brought a grin to her face.

_The Sergeant had them line up in front of the row of targets, each of them told to shoot as quickly and precisely as they could. The turians overall had been much better than the humans, but those from a colony like her were doing better than the Earth born. Finally, it was her turn; she stepped up to the line, unconsciously adjusting herself for the old beat-up rifle she used back at home. She pulled the trigger and had to re-adjust herself since this new rifle was leagues better than her old one. Even so, she still managed to get a good cluster and quickly._

_The Sergeant eyed up her target, "Not bad, human, can you repeat that?"_

_Shepard nodded and this time her grouping was even tighter, now that she didn't overcompensate for like she normally did for her old one._

_"A human that can shoot straight and consistently, the Spirits must have heard my prayers. So human, what is your name and what kind of rifle did you have back home?"_

_"It's Shepard, sir, and I had an old Lancer...this Crossfire is a dream to fire."_

_Canicus groaned, "I can't believe you hit anything with a Lancer. Well boys and girls, that's how your target should look. Now let's see some bullets actually hitting the target."_

_The turian who had the bunk next to her was the last one to shoot and his grouping was just as good as Shepard's was._

_"Well look at that, someone else who might have a shot at killing something. The rest of you keep trying, to you know, kill the dammed target. You two, follow me."_

_Canicus led them further along the range to where the targets were much farther away. He pulled two cases out of a locker._

_"Alright you two, let's see how you do with a real weapon. This is an Armax Punisher; it's going to have more kick than anything you've used before. Once you get used to that and master this first target, keep moving down the line until you reach the end. And I expect you to keep up your ability with the assault rifle and every other gun I throw at you along with this one. I've sent the directions on how to care for your new sniper rifle to your omni-tool."_

_Now Shepard had her very first sniper rifle. She had seen a few among the turian military outposts, but the high cost of one meant it would never be hers. Garrus, she had noticed, had been just as excited to get hold of the rifle as she had been. Canicus left them alone to go back and tend to the majority of the unit that was still working on using their assault rifles._

_Shepard gave Garrus a nervous grin as she pulled the weapon out of its case and he flared his mandibles in a turian version of a smile._

_"I had an old sniper rifle back home, I never thought I would get one as good as this to use during basic."_

_"I saw some of the turians using them around my town but never dreamed I would actually learn to use one. Any pointers?"_

_"Make sure you brace your legs and shoulder for its recoil. It may take a bit to get used to it."_

_Shepard nodded and together they set up their rifles. She watched him closely as he fired it for the first time. He hit the target but she could see him move to absorb some of the impact of the rifle against his shoulder. She mimicked his stance, sighted down the scope and pulled the trigger. She hit the target but the gun nearly knocked her on her butt._

_"Not bad for a first time using one. You'll get the hang of it."_

_"Damn straight I will, I think I'm in love with this thing."_

_Garrus laughed before he returned to his own practice._

***

As the weeks went on and everyone adapted to the rigorous schedule, the 'shower hour' (as she liked to call it) soon became the social and shower hour. The lengthening of the fringe signaled that a young male turian had entered that last growth spurt which in turn drew the attention of the young females. Shepard watched with amusement, for their behavior was similar to what she had seen among her own kind. Perhaps the two species weren't so different after all. Turians were much more casual about sex than most humans were, and the military had long ago allowed sex in its ranks. The humans, being older, were less about forming relationships and more about sexual gratification.

Shepard retreated to the safety of her bed; as the youngest human in the unit, she didn't draw the interest of the others. She sat reading one of her datapads, waiting for lights out, when some rustling next to her brought her out of her novel. She glanced up to find Vakarian digging through his locker. He pulled out a datapad as well, but instead of reading, he began playing a game on it. Her curiosity got the better of her and she sat up so she could see what he was doing. Noticing her interest, he showed it to her.

"It's a strategy game. I used to play it with my older sister before she went into basic."

"How do you play it?"

He gestured her over and within a few minutes, they had started a new game. Shepard found it much like the human game of reversi, a game she played with her father before. For a little while, they both concentrated on the game until Shepard saw that some of the turians were watching them.

"Aren't you worried that the others will look down on you for socializing with a human?"

Garrus looked up at her word and noted the direction her eyes were facing and then found eyes watching them. Garrus flared his mandibles in a grin at the turians before turning back to the game.

"Nope, don't care. I need to study my competition, and you're it, Shepard. Besides, none of them are really interested in me yet, I appear to be on the late side for obtaining my fringe. What about you, afraid you'll be labeled as a sympathizer?"

Lily snorted, "I'm a survivalist and my Mom needs this money to survive, since Dad died. Besides, this is the best way to get to see some of the galaxy and get paid for it."

"Sorry about your Dad."

"Thanks, this game is a lot like one I used to play with him."

"Crap, I've got other games we could play on this thing."

"No, no, I like this. It's a good reminder of him."

They managed to get in several games before the lights went out for the night. That last game was played quietly in the dark, the backlight of the datapad illuminating their faces as they hunched over the device.

***

During one of their sessions at the sniper range, Garrus and Shepard once more were making small talk while they were shooting, since they were the only ones in the area.

"Did your parents warn you about anything in particular when you said you wanted to join the military?"

"Nah, my Mom just didn't want me to go. She thought I should at least wait until I was eighteen. Well, she did give me a vague warning about turians, since both her and Dad had fought in the war. You?"

"Mostly my Dad told me 'do it right or don't do it at all', that always was his favorite motto. He did warn me about trusting humans...he too fought in the war."

"Which means both of our families would be terribly unhappy we are left alone at a target range having a friendly conversation. Oh, and don't forget playing games at night," Shepard mocked.

Garrus chuckled, "Yep, of course I figure we are going to have to learn to live with each other sometime. Hell, humans were absorbed into the Hierarchy as a client race, which means technically; if there was a war we would be fighting on the same side. Hey, I like those games, especially since I'm ahead in wins."

"Not for long Vakarian!" Shepard declared before taking another shot. "My Mom just didn't get it that if we wanted a better life the only way to do that is by becoming part of the Hierarchy. Hell, my basic pay is more than my Dad earned before he died. I'm hoping I'll be good enough to make it into a turian unit so I can send more back to Mom. What do you want to do after you muster out?"

"Well, Canicus must think you're good, he hasn't sent anyone else to train on the sniper rifles. From what I've heard most are still learning the other weapons. Me, well I would love to join the Spectres, you know, serving the galaxy. My Dad, however, wants me to join C-Sec."

"Hey, C-Sec is nothing to sneeze at. I mean, your councilor has to recommend you for it. It's not like the turian councilor would approve a human for that job."

"Sneeze at?"

"Uh, right, means don't take it lightly."

"Ah, got it. I don't see why not, if you are good enough they should take humans. Maybe you'll be the first," Garrus said grinning.

"I don't know, space cop just doesn't hold the appeal of serving on a warship. At least then you have patrols and take on pirates and slavers."

"I agree, if not Spectre I would rather stay in the military as well."

The sound of a whistle ringing in the air interrupted their conversation and they jumped to their feet. They quickly stowed their weapons before they began the jog back to join the rest of the unit. Shepard, however, had to quicken her strides in order to keep up with the easy loping gait of the turian at her side.

Garrus grinned at Shepard as she worked to keep beside him.

"Not going too fast, am I?"

She flashed him a grin, "Nope."

They arrived together and fell in with the others already standing at attention.

"Really Vakarian, you couldn't beat the human in a foot race?" Canicus mocked.

"Sir, one should never give away any advantage before a combat situation."

Canicus laughed, "Very true, young Vakarian, very true. Already planning for the War Games, I like it. What about you Shepard? Think you can outrun him?"

"I don't know sir, but I wasn't running full speed either."

Canicus gave an approving hum before turning back to his assembled recruits.

"Alright, time to go beat some more code into your heads, only a few more months until your basic is done! Now, move out!"

Under the Sergeant's watchful eye, the unit began the jog down to the tech classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my beta, Mordinette! 
> 
> And thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews - I'm delighted so many are interested in this!


	3. Chapter 3

Every morning when they assembled for roll call, they waited for those fateful words to be announced: war games. Nearly a year to the day since they had first begun their training, they finally heard it. Canicus stood in front of them as usual, but behind him now stood several tables with weapons on them.

"Alright boys and girls, you'll be excited to hear that now comes the test that will separate the children from the adults. Yes, I'm talking about war games."

Canicus flung his arm wide, gesturing at the tables set up behind him.

"Behind me are your special guns for this exercise. Your omni-tools will record any hits you take; if you take enough damage, I will be pinged that you are out of the game. If you try to hack anything but your opponents hardware, you will be disqualified and will be assigned latrine duty for the next month before being dishonorably released from service. You will be facing another unit of recruits that were trained by Sergeant Faia."  
Canicus paused a moment, letting that information sink in.

"Now she is a capable trainer but I think I have the better recruits, prove me right! The teams will be dropped on opposite sides of the field. There are two objectives...first, stay in the game; two, find the hidden cache that will only alert you to its presence when you get close to it. There is no time limit, so with that in mind you each will have a week's worth of dried rations, and water barrels will be set up throughout the playing field. If this goes longer than a week then more supplies will be brought in. And one last thing, there will be cams hidden all over the playing field to ensure no one cheats and to evaluate everyone's performance. Remember, it's not just about finding the objective, we are evaluating your ability to work as a team and overcome any and all obstacles."

Assistants moved efficiently down the line handing out supplies along with the weapons. Once they were all properly equipped, they gathered together, waiting for their next set of instructions.

"You'll be taken to the field by shuttle and this will be a combat drop into unknown territory. Basic maps will be available at both drop locations and it will have the highlighted area of where you are expected to find the objective. In addition, should you find yourself out of the play area, you will be directed back onto the playing field. More than once and we will assume you are trying to escape and you'll be removed from the exercise and a formal reprimand will be added to your file. Any questions?"

He gazed across his recruits, but no one made any noise. With a nod, he directed them to the waiting shuttles. As soon as they were all loaded up he made his way to the command center to oversee the exercise.  
***  
Canicus entered the building that housed the control center for his unit's exercise and found it already bustling with techs. However, a voice stopped his progress to the main display console.

"So, Canicus," said a female voice, "do you just want to give me my credits now, or do you want to wait until my team has destroyed yours?"  
Canicus turned to find Sergeant Faia leaned against a desk, her mandibles flared in a smile. He had to give it to her, she still looked good and of course, she knew it.

"Well, Faia, I figure the only way your people will win is if mine hold still with a damn sign on their forehead. Unfortunately for you, I failed to hand out any signs before they left."

Faia laughed, "This is why I'm always delighted to be pitted against you. You're so full of shit, it's just so damn funny. Care to back up your words with your credits?"

Canicus took a few steps towards her, bringing him closer, almost in her personal space.

"How about the loser has to buy dinner for the winner?"

Faia leaned towards him with her head tilted, flashing him an expanse of her neck.

"You're on, but I should tell you I have very expensive taste."

His retort was stifled by the arrival of two officers. He swiftly stood at attention and saluted them. Faia mirrored his actions.

"Captain Victus, Captain Oraka!" they said in unison.

"At ease Sergeants. So did I hear a mention of a bet between you two?" Captain Oraka asked with a chuckle.

"Just a small one sir," Canicus replied stiffly.

"Canicus here thinks his unit has a chance, even though he's got twice as many more humans than my unit does," Faia said with a snort of disbelief.

"Doesn't matter, I've got two of the best I've ever had come through here in my unit this year."

Faia chuckled, "Cling to that hope all you want."

Victus knew that Canicus rarely singled out specific soldiers, so these two must be a cut above the normal.

"Tell me about them," Victus said.

Canicus nodded and led them all towards the large display of the playing field.

"Crack shots both of them and tech savvy. Hell, she finished a tactical cloak for her tech project, while he made himself a nice overload program. They both are smart and spend more time playing strategy games against each other than, uh, some of the other evening pursuits."

"So tell us who these paragons among soldiers are," Oraka joked.

Canicus touched the display for one of the cameras near the drop zone for his people. The camera screen enlarged to fill the display and they all watched as the recruits huddled around the map and two figures gestured at it, one human and one turian. Another touch and the camera zoomed in on the turian.

"Garrus Vakarian."

Faia groaned, "Oh hell, you lucky bastard, you got Titus's son. I had his older sister; if he is as good as she is... Damn."

Victus and Oraka laughed at Canicus's grin.

"And the other?" Victus asked.

Another touch and the camera enlarged the picture to show the female human at Garrus's side.

"Her name is Shepard, from the colony of Mindoir. As far as I have found, there is nothing exceptional in her background. Even if Faia's unit took out most of mine, I still think these two could pull off a win."

"A human," Faia scoffed.

Before Canicus could reply, his omni-tool pinged an alert. One of his soldiers had just been taken out of the game. He backed the camera up and saw the human swearing as he marched back to the drop off location to be picked up and removed from the field. The rocks where the group had gathered to examine the map had protected most of them from the shots that had them pinned down. Faia touched the control of a different camera and they could see which one of her soldiers was the sniper responsible for the first 'casualty'.

"Ha! First kill to my side," she crowed. "And your people are pinned down; I wonder how they will get out of this?"

They turned back to watch Canicus's recruits. His people seemed unconcerned as they plotted. Shepard pulled her sniper rifle off her back and with the help of several others, they lifted her up. She triggered her omni-tool and the faint shimmer of her tactical cloak hid her mostly from view. The two turians lifted her until she was able to place her rifle along the top of the big rock. She became visible after the recoil of her gun nearly caused those holding her up, to drop her. Faia's omni-tool alerted her that she had now lost a soldier as well.

"Damn, that was a hell of a shot," Faia growled.

Now that the sniper had been eliminated, the group moved out of the rocks and deeper into the playing field. The humans and turians moved as a cohesive unit as they fell in around their leaders, Vakarian and Shepard.

Victus turned to Oraka with a grin, "So want to make a wager?"

Oraka chuckled, "Sure, so long as you put me down as Canicus winning."

"How about betting how many will be left on the winning team?"

"Deal. I say less than fifteen."

"That works for me. Winner gets top picks, because there are two at the very least that I want."

"Greedy bastard, aren't you? Fine, fine. Winner gets to pick however many they want."

Victus nodded his agreement and they turned back to watch how the rest of the exercise would play out.  
***  
Victus and Oraka stayed for the entire exercise, sleeping when the recruits did, afraid they might miss some of the action. After those first few volleys, the two sides engaged in more traditional warfare. However, it became obvious that the camaraderie of Shepard and Vakarian was the glue that held them together. That soon became their advantage and they used it. They hounded Faia's unit across the field, slowly whittling them down.  
Several days later and the last of Faia's team finally left the field as a casualty. Victus chuckled when he noted how many of Canicus's unit came out into the open area as they searched for the object to end the exercise once and for all.

"I do believe there is more than fifteen of them left."

"Canicus, can we get an official number?" Oraka asked.

He tapped a few commands on the display and sixteen omni-tools popped up on the screen as active still.

"Sixteen, sir."

"Damn it, curse you and your luck," Oraka growled at his friend.

Victus clapped him on the shoulder with a laugh, "Come on, let's go get the forms in."

Canicus watched the captains depart and then strolled over to where Faia was filling out some forms.

He purred at her, "I do hope you have something nice to wear. There is that really nice place that just opened up that I've been dying to try and I haven't had a decent meal in forever."

At first she scowled, but finally she just laughed.

"Smug aren't you? As a matter of fact, I do. I just hope you can meet my exacting standards."

"Don't you worry. I may be an old soldier, but I can 'infiltrate' with the best of them," he said with a grin. "I'll ping you with details, but for now I need to go fetch my recruits, you know, the winning ones."

Canicus tossed her a small salute before heading towards the door. Faia smacked his ass before he got out of range and he threw a grin over his shoulder at her before he left.

"If you're good I'll let you hit that later as well."

Faia shook her head with a groan, wondering what she had just agreed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once more, thanks to Mordinette, my beta, for all your help! And I'm delighted so many of you are enjoying this story, so thanks to you as well!


	4. Chapter 4

The shuttle carrying the recruits reverberated with the sound of victory songs from two different species. Neither side seemed to care as they all tried to sing over each other. They were dirty and desperate for a hot meal, but euphoria over their win prevented them from caring. The noise ended abruptly when the shuttle doors opened and they saw their Sergeant waiting for them on the landing pad. They jumped out and formed up their ranks just as every other day, but they all stood a little prouder.

Canicus paced in front of them a couple of times before breaking into a broad grin.

"Well done! You not only worked together, but you did so effectively. This is a victory for all of you. And to celebrate the end of your basic training, all of you get a twenty-four hour pass off base. A truck will be leaving in one hour for the nearby town. Now if I should get a call asking me to come get one of my people because they have gotten out of hand, well let's just say you are going to wish the local police had shot you. Dismissed!"

Shepard let the excited voices of the others wash over her as she made her way back to her bunk. She joined the people all around that were stripping down as fast as they could. The shower room quickly became a music hall as the singing resumed and the sound bounced off the tiles. She stood under the cool water, scrubbing dirt off her face, occasionally joining in the celebration. The victory, while gratifying, didn't guarantee her a coveted spot in the turian military. That thought weighed heavily on her.

"Vakarian!" a male voice yelled out.

"What?"

"What's Shepard's first name?" came the laughing reply.

Garrus chuckled, "If I did know it, I wouldn't divulge it. She's too good of a shot."

"Come on, you two are like best friends."

"I never told him - just to spare him the idiocy of you people asking him," Shepard growled out.

"Oh come on, spill it. Soon we will all be heading to our new assignments and I, for one, would like to know the first name of the person who helped us get there."

"Oh hell no! You guys give me enough shit about my size; I'm not giving you anything else to tease me about."

Calls of 'spoilsport' and 'squirt' chased her out of the shower room, to which she just waved a hand dismissively in their direction.

***

Everyone had piled into the truck happily chattering about their first release from duty since they had first come to the base. Most everyone had gotten their best casual clothes out; Shepard had settled for her best pair of jeans and a tank top.

The truck stopped at some intersection in the little town just outside the base. It was late afternoon when they all piled out and the group of them stood there on the corner pulling up information on the town on their omni-tools. Except for Garrus - he gazed about at the streets, and spotting the one he wanted, he turned to the others.

"Hey, my sister told me of a place that serves both species and it's cheaper and better than the ones listed on the official site for this town. It's just down this street."

"Lead on then," Shepard said, glad someone knew where to go.

The boisterous crowd garnered a few looks as they made their way down the street, but most residents recognized the signs of newly released recruits. Garrus stopped outside of a building that revealed nothing about what they might find inside. He double-checked the name on the building, Nanus, before opening the door.

A bored waitress moved from the stool she sat on to approach the few of them that could fit in the doorway.

"Spirits! How many of you are there?"

"Thirty, ma'am. Can we all fit?" Garrus replied.

She laughed, "Luckily for you, the place is empty at this time of day. Who told you about us?"

"My older sister came here when she was in boot camp. She told me about it."

"That's what I like to hear: word of mouth. You'll fill the place up, but you can all fit."

They poured into the place, taking every available seat and stool. Instead of going to every table, the waitress stood in the center of the small diner and clapped once to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, we have two items on the menu: the dextro special or the levo special. How many of each do we need?"

"Twenty dextro and ten levo please," Garrus replied for the group.

The waitress hopped from table to table taking drink orders, but as soon as everyone had one, Shepard stood up.

"Here's to each and every one of us; we seriously kicked some ass out there. Best of luck to us all when we get our assignments!"

The diner erupted in cheers and whistles. Their waitress apparently had witnessed such exuberance from recruits before, as she wasn't fazed by the noise.

"I take it you were the winning team in your exercise?"

More cheers and yes's answered her just as the door opened, revealing a young turian female leading a large group of her own. Shepard elbowed Garrus when she got a good look at the newcomer.

"I think she's the sniper I took out at the start."

Garrus grinned down at her, "Uh, good job?"

The waitress approached the young woman.

"I'm sorry, as you can see we are full up at the moment, try again in about an hour or so."

She nodded and was in the middle of turning to leave when she stopped, her eyes narrowed for a moment at one human in particular. She had last seen him through her scope out on the field.

"Is this Canicus's unit?" she asked the room.

A chorus of laughing yes's answered her.

"So which one of you took me out?"

Shepard stood up from the back table where she sat.

"I did."

Her mandibles fluttered; apparently, she hadn't expected a human to be the one to snipe her.

"Fuck, no way some dumbass little pyjack took me out! How could you have made that shot, hell, I doubt you can even shoot a sniper rifle," she scoffed.

Shepard bristled but she swallowed her angry retort; the last thing she needed was to be labeled a 'trouble maker' on her file. Garrus got to his feet and stood next to her, his shoulder brushing her head as he crossed his arms in front of him. He had finally entered his final growth spurt and he stood taller than she did now. Shepard threw a grateful smile at him.

"I could have done it as well, but she was far easier to hold up high enough, and well she did have that wonderful tactical cloak she made. Don't be an ass about your losing to us."

The room got quiet as everyone waited to see what her next move would be. The waitress approached the newcomer.

"If you are going to cause trouble, you won't be welcome here, miss."

Faia's recruits turned and left without saying another word. It took a few minutes, but soon the room filled with talk once more.

"Thanks, Garrus, I appreciate you having my back like that."

"Anytime, Shepard. Why can't they get we are all on the same side?"

"Not everyone is as rational as you are."

***

After dinner, the unit made their way to the only bar approved for them. The bar was dark with some sort of techno music playing. Turians dominated the space, though a few humans could be found as well. Shepard followed close behind Garrus but stopped at the bar. She tugged on his shoulder to get his attention.

"I'll grab us a couple of drinks, you see if you can snag us a spot somewhere," she yelled at him over the music.

He nodded and continued diving deeper through the mass of bodies. Shepard found an empty stool and quickly claimed it while she waited for the bartender to return to this side of the bar. She watched as most of her fellow recruits were already out on the dance floor, yelling and whooping it up.

Ordering two beers, Shepard tentatively took a sip of the levo friendly one. She had no idea if it was good or bad but she knew it was definitely not something she cared for. Taking small sips, she attempted to slide off her chair without spilling anything.

"Well you're far too attractive to be a soldier; I bet you could make a living as a dancer," a deep flanging voice declared behind her, nearly causing her to spill the drinks in her hand.

Shepard turned to find a turian invading her personal space, and not one she knew. His golden eyes flicked over her face; apparently he liked what he saw, as his mandibles flared wide in a turian smile.

"Why would I want to do that when shooting things is so very satisfying," Shepard retorted.

He reached a talon up to tug on her ponytail, but Shepard shrank away.

"Hey Shepard, we got a table over in the corner," Garrus interrupted.

"Back off boy, I was here first," the stranger growled.

"Good, I've got your beer, Garrus," Shepard replied before offering the glass to him. "Excuse me while I join my friends."

Shepard followed Garrus deeper into the club. Once they were away from the other turian, Shepard gave Garrus a grateful nudge.

"Thanks, he was starting to get annoying."

"Anytime Shepard, though I may have to charge a fee if this keeps up," Garrus laughed. "You make all the best friends."

"Oh yes, I want the creepy turian who sounded like he wanted to be my pimp. That's just the kind of friend I want."

Shepard slid into the booth where several fellow recruits were already seated, both turian, one male and one female. They all nodded companionably before the conversation returned to the war game. Shepard only half listened while Garrus and Marisa argued over the effects of humans on the teams.

"I'm telling you Marisa, it comes down less to how many humans on the team but more of how good the ones you do have are. Look, Faia's unit had less humans than us but we still won, and by a good margin. Which is why that female was so pissed I bet," Garrus stated.

"I still think they weaken a unit."

"No, lack of trust weakens a unit, regardless of species. Garrus and I trusted each other, so the rest of you fell in with us, regardless of whose plan it was originally. I think Faia's unit suffered from a lack of leadership; I bet that sniper was their de facto leader and once she was gone, nobody else could really rally them together," Shepard added.

"Fine, you made your point. I wonder how long before the assignments will be posted," Marisa said.

"Probably will take at least a week, you know how fast paperwork moves through the system. Slower than an elcor explanation," Garrus joked.

Shepard laughed, nodding at his assessment. Garrus flicked his gaze towards her, his mandibles flicking wide in a grin.

"Hey Shepard, you uh...want to dance?"

Grinning she replied, "Why the hell not."

Together they left the booth, leaving behind surprised looks on the faces of their companions. They both laughed as they headed to join the multitude of people already dancing on the floor. Garrus danced like most turians and hell most men she knew, but Shepard didn't care. It was intoxicating just being on the floor with someone and not alone. Shepard gave her partner an appraising look; he was probably average height for a turian, his plates a steely grey with blue colony markings darker than his blue eyes. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her, some strange foreign creature that many considered mildly repulsive.

Garrus had listened to many of his fellow turians talking about the warnings their parents had given them about humans. Everything from they were worthless with a gun to sleeping with one could kill you because they were levo based. The last one had brought laughter from everyone who had heard that particular statement. In fact, Nerva had said that he had heard that humans were similar to asari, and everyone knew how popular the asari were despite being levo. His father likened them to errant children who should be watched carefully lest they hurt themselves or others. It didn't help that his father held an upper tier amongst the Hierarchy standing, something his father always reminded him about. His father expected him to be the best and to join C-Sec eventually. Boot camp had been his first time away from his influence and Garrus was reveling in it. He knew his father wouldn't approve of his friendship with Shepard, not to mention where his thoughts were going now. Asking her to dance, well that was bringing everything to a head. Which got him to thinking, well maybe a little stress relief might be fun for both of them, and she was his best friend. Odds were that he wouldn't see her after they went to their new posts. He waited for the music to slow down before he leaned in close to her.

"Hey you want to get out of here and find somewhere more private?"

Surprise flickered over her face before she replied, "And where exactly would that be?"

He grinned at her, "Turians plan for everything."

He held out his hand to her and for a moment, he feared he had misjudged her but then she placed hers in his. Tugging her along behind him, he weaved his way through the busy bar and to one of the small side rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Mordinette, for all your hard work as my beta! And thank you to my readers, glad so many are enjoying this so far!


	5. Chapter 5

Being propositioned by one of the few recruits she considered a friend had surprised her, but this was Garrus. Her friend, hell, her best friend and the one person she trusted more than any other on and off the field of combat.

Hand in hand they weaved through the crowded bar, making their way into a corridor. He pulled her past the restrooms until they stood before a door. He had brought her to one of the bar's storage rooms, littered with boxes and crates. Garrus fiddled with the control panel until the door finally locked, preventing anyone else from entering behind them. Shepard turned towards him.

"The floor? Really?" she asked.

"Hmm, well, we also have against the wall, or on one of the crates. Got a preference?" _Spirits, could he sound any lamer? Crap. She was going to walk out and he wouldn't blame her._

"I guess we can make this work, it's better than back in the barracks. I don't know how anyone can do anything in there."

Since she hadn't laughed at him and left, the brief sense of relief he felt was quickly replaced by apprehension once more. _'Shit'_ , he thought to himself, ' _might have been good to, you know, try to find out if anyone had any practical information before propositioning Shepard.'_

Garrus's mandibles flicked nervously. Shepard recognized that body language at least, and found it reassuring.

"So I take it you've never been with a human before?"

"No. Have you, uh, been with a turian?"

"No, you're my first one. I'm sure we can work it out. We've always been good at teamwork."

Garrus nodded and reached out to stroke a talon along Shepard's cheek.

"Odds are real low that we'll ever run into each other again when we leave basic and I, uhh..."

"I know. I'll miss our games, our talks. You've become my best friend," she said softly. She gently traced the cobalt blue of his colony mark where it swept under his eye and back along his cheek.

"So, hmm, think I'm allowed to finally know the first name of my best friend before we attempt to uh, improve interspecies relations?"

Shepard laughed, "Lily, its Lily."

He hummed for a moment before leaning in close to her.

"Lily," he said, his voice dropping down even lower; "I like it."

"Damn, you might have been a late bloomer, but your voice is just sinful now."

Garrus grinned, pleased at the compliment. He dipped his head to brush his cheek against hers.

"Lily." His breath was hot against her neck, sending a delightful shiver down her spine. "Why don't you like your name?"

"I guess it does seem foolish now. It's the name of a flower and when I was younger they teased me about being 'Lily the delicate little flower'. So I kind of grew to hate it. I don't think of myself as a flower kind of girl."

His rumbling laugh brought a smile to her face.

"And what kind of girl are you?"

"You know, one that likes a really big gun."

He pulled back and gave her a grin. Groaning, she smacked her forehead.

"Yeah, that sounded kind of bad."

His laugh was infectious and she joined him.

"I hope I can live up to your expectations then."

She could feel her face heating up but managed to mutter, "Shut. Up. Vakarian."

"Can all humans change their skin color like that?"

"It's called blushing; it's a sign of embarrassment."

"Oh sorry, but you have to admit that was pretty funny," he chuckled.

She took hold of his hand and tugged him towards a sturdy looking crate.

"Sit here, then you won't be quite so tall."

He settled on the box and she moved to stand between his legs. Now she stood only a few inches shorter than he was.

Shepard hummed thoughtfully, "I wonder if you can kiss."

"I don't know. I've seen it done, but..."

Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his mouth plates. Her tongue licked him and he opened his mouth to say something, but she took it as permission. Her tongue darted into his mouth and tangled with his. It was odd, but not unpleasant, and he followed her lead before he wrapped his hands around her waist so he could pull her closer to him. She gave a contented sigh when they broke apart.

"I would say that was a yes, yes you can."

Pressing his advantage, he asked, "Could you take your hair down? I've always wondered what it felt like."

Shepard smiled and pulled out the band holding her hair in a ponytail. Garrus wasted no time, his talons teased through her hair bringing a soft sigh from Shepard. The color reminded him of sunsets on Palaven, but it was cool to the touch and softer than he had expected. Her sigh, he took that as a good sign and leaned in to drag his teeth gently along her neck. The scent of her skin was different, but it had the reassuring smell of guns underneath it.

Lily tilted her head, allowing him more access that he quickly took. His arms gripped her waist as their bodies pressed together. She wound her arms as best as she could around his neck.

"Your neck...do you like it as well?" she gasped out.

His voice rumbled against her neck, sending shivers up her spine, "Yes, though you'll have to use more pressure than I can use on you."

Standing on tiptoes, she bit down on the soft hide of his neck, drawing a flanged groan from him. Using her teeth, lips and tongue, she thoroughly explored his neck, finding a few spots that seemed to draw a bigger reaction than others. She catalogued those areas for later.

"Your waist," he growled, "is that good for you?"

"It's fine for holding, but it doesn't really do anything for us...what about you?"

He barely uttered, "Sensitive for us," before her hands had fallen to his waist to grip him there. "Yes," was all he managed to gasp out.

Together they struggled to strip each other out of their clothes. The soft, supple skin of her body was deceptive, for underneath it he could feel the corded muscles she had developed over the past year. The softness felt strange at first, but soon he found he liked it quite a bit.

Together they scanned the room, trying to find something that would work for their needs. Finally, she just climbed on top of him. As he gazed down, he realized that she had no protective plates there. Using the pad of a finger, he gently touched her and she moved, trying to maintain the contact between them.

"I didn't expect that," he muttered.

"What? That I would like you touching me?"

"No, just, I mean, you have no protection there."

"It's okay, I trust you. I know you won't hurt me," she murmured.

' _Never_ ,' he thought to himself. All thoughts raced out of his head when she grazed her fingers along the seam of his genital plates. His groan of delight brought a smile to her face. When her warm hand gripped him and then began stroking him, he threw his head back with a low growl. Her delighted laugh let him know she enjoyed his reaction rather than be intimidated by the sounds he made, further releasing any anxiety he had left. He decided turnabout was fair play.

His gentle explorations of her body revealed that some areas caused a better response than others did. He watched as her eyes closed and breathy little moans escaped her as his finger stroked her.

A little more squirming on his lap and then she was sinking down on him. His head fell back with a groan as he entered what had to be the tightest, wettest channel in existence. Her answering sigh let him know that she was enjoying the sensation as well. He gripped her waist as he tried to thrust up into her wet heat, but she only sighed and moved slowly up and down on him. Dropping one talon to where their bodies were joined he carefully circled the little nub he had found earlier.

"Yes...OH."

He only rumbled low in response and continued his efforts. Shepard had never felt anything like this before; he filled her and rubbed all sorts of spots that had her eyes glazing with lust. She could feel her crest building in her as her body tightened around his, drawing a deep groan from her partner. Finally, her release washed over her, her cries of satisfaction echoing in the small room. Garrus felt her already tight body clenching around his member as Shepard's orgasm rippled through her. It was all he could do not to let her pull him over the edge with her. He wanted to prolong this as long as he could.

Garrus didn't rush her as she trembled in his arms, waiting for her to catch her breath to begin the game again.  
When she once more resumed her ride of his body, she whispered against his neck, "now what would you like?"

"That...keep doing that...my neck...my waist...yes, Spirits..." was all he managed to reply.

Her mouth and hands assaulted his senses not to mention the fact that she had resumed her riding of his body. The sensations washed over him and he soon followed her as his own orgasm overcame him. Shuddering still, his head dipped down allowing him to nuzzle her neck.

Lily gave him a soft smile, "Thank you. That was wonderful."

"I think I should be thanking you," he sighed.

Reluctantly, she untangled her legs from him and stood up. He followed suit, and in silence, they dressed.

Upon exiting the room, Shepard looked around desperately for a bathroom.

"Over there," Garrus said in a low voice, pointing to a sign down the hall.

She threw him a grateful smile before hurrying off to clean up a bit.

Finding Garrus again when she emerged, however, was a different kind of challenge. She hadn't made it very far down the hallway when the turian that approached her before intercepted her. She tried to sidestep him but he blocked her path.

"I saw you go in one of those rooms with junior. I'm sure you were, uh, disappointed. Youth so rarely know what they are doing. Now, someone like me, well I know how to bring pleasure to a woman," he purred at her.

"I'm good, thanks," she replied gruffly before trying to move around him again.

"You realize this means nothing to him."

"We're friends that had a bit of fun. There are lots of other women here, why not go hit on one of them, because I'm not interested."

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her, hoping she wouldn't have to resort to violence to make her point.

"Look around at your fellow humans; you clump together, afraid to leave that safety like weak herd beasts. But you, you are adventurous."

"I don't want any trouble, but I'm really not interested and if you continue, I will put some of my training to use," she stated, eyes narrowed in anger.

He stepped back and turned to leave, nearly running into Garrus.

"Everything okay?" he asked, watching the other turian leave.

"Yeah, some people don't understand no."

"Umm, you want to catch a vid or something? You know, something besides the bar," he asked quietly.

She smiled up at him. "I'd like that."

Together they slipped out and into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another big thank you to Mordinette for all her wonderful help! And one to my readers, thank you for all the support you've shown this story...I appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6

Light rain fell on the unit as they stood in formation waiting for Canicus to give them the day’s activities. He paced in front of their line for a moment or two, making them wonder what was going to happen next. 

“I know you’ll miss the sight of my smiling face every day, but the day has finally come to send you on. A truck will be here shortly to take all of you to the spaceport. Once there, I will be giving out your new assignments. You have thirty minutes to go and collect your things, so snap to it! Dismissed!”

Lily made her way back to her bunk and began pulling her few personal items out of her locker. She glanced over and watched as Vakarian did the same thing. He grinned back at her and she gave him a weak smile.

“What’s the matter, Shepard?”

“I can’t believe basic is over.”

“I know. But hey, we can play long distance, just message our moves to each other.”

He pulled out the datapad that contained his games and thrust it at Lily.

“Here, you can be the official holder of it. I’ll get another copy easily enough.”

Lily stuffed the device in her bag. She glanced over and gave him a cheeky grin.

“Thanks. I’ll try not to beat you too many times. I hate hearing turians cry.”

Garrus laughed, “You wish, Shepard. Come on, we don’t want Canicus yelling at us.”

She nodded and rearranged her bag, carefully wrapping the datapad in her clothes to protect it. She slung her bag over her shoulder and with one last look at what had been her home for the past year she joined her friend and together they left their barracks behind.

The truck jostled them as they rode it back to the spaceport, but now it rang with the chatter and laughter of its occupants. Garrus sat on one side of Lily and he gave her a playful nudge with his shoulder. Grinning up at him, she pushed back, but he failed to move and pretended to stifle a yawn. 

“Fine, I lack the leverage to move your fat ass.”

“Fat?” he exclaimed in mock horror. “I’m all muscle. I can’t help it if you’re so puny and, well, soft.”

The last statement was made with one talon poking her in the stomach. Lily arched one eyebrow up at him. She was going to miss him more than she wanted to admit even to herself. 

“Watch it, Vakarian. I’d hate to have to kick your ass in front of everyone,” she laughed.

His laughter joined hers before he leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Good. I’d rather remember you trash talking me and laughing than looking like you were about to go scrub a toilet.”

“What? Most guys would have rather remembered our evening in the bar,” she said in a low voice.

“Mmm, well, that was good too, but you’re my friend first. The other was just, how do you say it? Yes, now I remember, _icing on the cake_.”

She bumped her shoulder against him with a smile. His rumbling laugh always brought a smile to her face. It had to be one of her favorite sounds.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, Shepard.”

The truck lurched to a stop and the back gate dropped. The recruits quieted down and everyone filed out. Lily and Garrus stood with the rest, waiting for Canicus to begin handing out their new assignments. Lily’s stomach twisted in anticipation. She needed to be assigned to a full turian unit if she was going to take care of her mother. 

“Vakarian, Shepard...front and center!”

They swiftly moved to stand in front of Canicus. He thrust a datapad at Vakarian and then one to her.

“Head to Docking bay A12. Dismissed.”

They saluted and Canicus flashed a rare grin at them before pointing them in the direction they needed to go. Shoulder to well, her head really, they walked along and then it hit her. They were going to be assigned to the same unit. She glanced down at the device in her hand, gasped, and came to a complete stop when she saw what their assignment was. Garrus grabbed her by the arm and began towing her as he moved through the crowds heading towards their destination.

“Garrus,” she said, her voice husky with disbelief. “We are assigned to the cruiser _Intrepid_ under Captain Victus.”

“Oh, Victus; he’s one of our brightest. The family name alone carries a certain prestige. This is excellent for a first posting. And on the cruiser that will be the flagship of the frigates in his patrol. Even my dad should be pleased with this assignment,” he commented.

“Yes, but this is _me_. A human. On a turian cruiser.”

He chuckled, “Yes, good job, Private Shepard. I knew you would get a good assignment.”

An undignified squeal exited her mouth before she could stop herself, and she grabbed him around the neck.

“I did it!”

He laughed and returned the embrace.

“Yes, yes you did. Now let’s move. We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Why aren’t you more excited?”

“Turians are supposed to be stoic,” he chuckled. “If you could hear my sub-harmonics, you would know how excited I am. Not just because of the posting, but because I’ll have a friend on board as well now.”

“Yeah, that is awesome. Alright Private, let’s move out!”

She released him and her strides now had that swing in them that Garrus recognized from watching humans. Assured, some would say, while others would say cocky, but regardless, he found it delightful to watch. She turned to look at him when he fell a step or two behind her.

“Are you looking at my ass, Private Vakarian?”

“Nope, your waist, Private Shepard,” he laughed.

All too soon, they were arriving at the docking bay. A shuttle waited at bay A12 with two turians standing in front of it- one male and the other female. They saluted when they came to attention in front of the pair. 

“I’m Captain Victus, of the _Intrepid_. This is Lieutenant Velox; she is in charge of the recon squad that the two of you are assigned to. Once aboard, she’ll show you around and assign you your daily duties.”

He turned on his heel and disappeared into the shuttle. Velox took a moment to look over their orders before waving them aboard the vehicle. 

Lily wasn’t sure if she was going to pass out or puke from excitement as she and Garrus took the seats across from their commanding officers. Her eyes remained locked on the vid screen showing the view outside of their shuttle. 

“Private Shepard, I have to ask - you applied for a position in a turian unit while most humans prefer to stay in the auxiliary units. Why?”

She tore her eyes away from the screen and found the Captain watching her intently. “Well, sir, first the pay is better and I send most of what I earn to my Mom. Second, I know raiders have been getting worse and the fleet has been spread thin, so I want to do what I can to protect the civilians like my Mom. Getting to see the galaxy is a nice perk as well.”

He gave a pleased rumble, “I think you’ll do well in your career.”

“Thank you, sir, it’s an honor.”

The rest of their short trip was silent. Garrus watched the vid screen just as intently as she did, as the ship that would be their new home loomed larger and larger on the display. The bay door yawned open and their shuttle entered the much larger vessel.

The shuttle lurched a little as it settled into its berth. The hatch had barely opened before Victus was through it, already striding out of the bay. Velox eyed her newest additions. She’d never worked with a human before in combat, but the Captain, well, his instincts about people had always been good before. She keyed up her omni-tool and transmitted the ship’s blueprints to the pair in front of her.

“That’s the ship’s layout. Eventually you’ll learn your way around, but for now you can use that to get where you need to be. If we aren’t on an active mission, you’ll be assigned other duties. I’ll show you to the crew quarters and you can stow your gear. From there, head to the armory to store your weapons. I’ll meet you there and give you your next assignment.”

They followed behind the older woman trying to memorize every inch of the ship. Their passing caused several crewmembers to stop what they were doing to watch the newest additions. 

****  
They found the armory after only a few wrong turns. Weapons lockers lined the walls and Velox waited near one of the work tables, numerous weapons spread across them. She waved them over.

“These are backup weapons, some broken, all need cleaning. You get the picture. I need you two to clean them all, fix what you can, and make a list of those that need parts not on hand. Any weapons you feel are ready to be used should be moved to this table,” she said, pointing at a nearby table that was empty. “I’ll be back in a few hours to see how you are doing. Any questions?”

“No, ma’am,” they replied.

“Good. Oh, your assigned mid-day meal is in four hours; miss it and you have to wait until the evening meal. You’re the only human under Captain Victus, so don’t expect much, Private Shepard.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Lily replied with a nod.

Lieutenant Velox gave them one last appraising look and then left them alone with their assignment. Garrus rubbed the back of his neck as he looked over the expanse of weapons they had to go over.

“Well, we won’t be bored, that’s for sure.”

“That might be the understatement of the year,” Lily replied. 

She picked up the gun closest to her and began breaking it down. Garrus pulled up a stool and started on the first weapon closest to him. Breaking down a weapon and rebuilding it, this was something she knew and understood and the rhythm of this familiar chore calmed her.

“Shepard, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Lily asked.

She stopped for a moment and looked at Garrus, wondering what he was talking about. Garrus caught her look and grinned.

“Military food tastes like crap to begin with. I can’t even imagine how bad yours is going to be.”

Lily groaned, “I know what I’ll be buying the first time we get shore leave somewhere that I can get a decent meal.”

He laughed, “You might want to stockpile some dry rations as well. They might taste better than what you will find in the mess hall.”

“You’re just a ray of sunshine, you know that?”

“That’s me, Sunshine Vakarian.”

They had made it about halfway through the weapons when Velox returned. She picked up one of the weapons from the completed table. Her fingers flew over it as she checked every part of it before finally holding it to her eye to check the sight. 

“Good. You might as well come with me down to the mess. You can finish the rest of these up after your meal.”

They fell in behind Velox as she strode through the ship. The meal was in full swing when they entered. As those closest to the door noticed the newcomers they elbowed their neighbors until finally everyone sat watching them enter the line. Lily swallowed nervously. She thought about trying to maintain the turian stoic thing but decided to try a friendly smile. Velox grabbed hold of Lily and Garrus’s arms and lifted them up in the air.

“This is Shepard, and this is Vakarian. Our newest recruits, so now that you’ve seen them you can go back to eating.”

She released their arms and turned back towards the line. The noise level slowly crept back up, but Lily knew this was just the start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Mordinette for all her wonderful help! And a thank you to my readers for your continued support!


	7. Chapter 7

Breakfast was only mildly less awkward than dinner had been. The food, however, was still as bad. Either the turian cooks were really trying to help her out by flavoring her nutrient paste or they were needlessly evil making something nasty even worse. She picked up her fork and took another mouthful, washing it quickly down with some water. The alert tone of her omni-tool chimed in time with Garrus’s unit. The day’s duties must have just been sent. She opened the message to find she was to report to Corporal Roka down in some access tunnel on the port side of the ship. She peered over at his tool.

“What did you get?”

“Main battery, and you?”

“Not sure, I’m supposed to meet someone down at an access tunnel.”

“They probably want someone small to climb through them,” Garrus laughed.

“Gee, that sounds like such fun. You’d think you guys would build your ships to accommodate you better.”

“I know! Well, good luck!”

“Thanks, you too.”

She shoveled in the last of her paste and left. She kept her map open as she made her way across the ship, trying to avoid colliding with anyone. At least the word had spread about her arrival, as the gawking wasn’t as pronounced as it had been the day before. Of course, the awkwardness of their free time after the evening meal yesterday had been the worst so far. If not for Garrus standing resolutely by her, she might have been more upset, but he acted as if nothing was different and they continued with their nightly games of Cascade. She didn’t know how long she would survive in a turian unit without him.

The clanging of tools echoed in the tunnel that looked to be the one marked on her map. 

“Hello?” she called into the tube.

“Yeah? Oh wait, are you Shepard?” a male voice asked.

“Yes.”

“Come on in.”

She crept down the tube until it widened into a larger area where a male turian worked on removing a large metal panel from the wall. He stood up on her entrance and at his feet was a large toolbox. His amber eyes watched her intently. He was shorter than she expected, maybe only six inches or so taller than her. One talon idly scratched at his short fringe. His plates were a rich brown, but he didn’t have any colony markings.

“Private Shepard reporting, sir!”

“Ah, new recruits are always so gung-ho. Roka is fine here in the underbelly of the ship, or Corporal if you must.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “I believe you are assigned to watch over me today.”

He shook his head. “No, I requested you. You aren’t some heavy handed soldier that breaks any tech they touch and I can use another pair of hands checking over the wiring behind these panels, especially a smaller pair.”

“Oh. Well, tell me what you need me to do.”

He dropped down, took the last bolt out and removed the cover, revealing an even smaller crawl space. He pulled up a program on his omni-tool and scrolled through several screens before motioning her over to look at what he’d found.

“I ran this diagnostic earlier and found that several wires back here are either loose or bad. We need to find them and repair them.”

Lily kneeled down beside him to get a good look at where they had to work. 

“I hope you’re not claustrophobic.”

“No, but I have to ask: why did you guys build this so small when you are not?”

“That would be because we make this as small as we can and still hope to get someone inside of it. Space is at a premium and we try to utilize every last bit of it.”

“Well, I’m smaller than you; I can probably navigate better than you in there. Tell me what I need to do.”

He sent his program to her omni-tool.

“There, now you have the basic overlay of the wiring. The bad ones are the ones blinking. I will hold a light so you can see better back there.”

“Got it. One minute.”

She quickly removed her armor, leaving on only the thinner under suit. She nearly blushed when he quirked an eyebrow plate at her.

“Umm, wasn’t expecting that.”

“No sense having on hard armor to catch on everything in there.”

Stuffing the replacement wires inside her suit, she delved into the shaft. He held a light aloft in the area, allowing her to navigate easier. She still had to move carefully so as not to accidently pull something loose. She replaced the first one easily, as it was close to the panel opening. After that, it got progressively harder. Finally, the light he held no longer illuminated where she needed to see.

“Here, hand me the light, I’ll have to try and hold it.”

“Hang on...let me find something. Ah, here it is.”

He slapped something in her hand that was stretched behind her. She pulled it forward and found something like a headlamp. Shortening the strap as far as it would go, she pulled it onto her head and it promptly fell around her neck.  
“Well, I’ve got it on, but not sure how helpful it will be since it’s around my neck,” she sighed.

“I was hoping it would tighten enough for you to use it correctly. The last wire in this access tunnel is the one that it takes two to replace. Just ahead of you there should be a drop off; the last wire looks to be partway down that drop.”

“Right. Scooting forward.”

Roka watched her slowly inch forward, the lamp banging against the floor of the tunnel. Her head tipped downward when she encountered the next section. One hand gripped the lip of the opening while she leaned downward into the shaft. A loud clatter echoed in the tunnel.

“Fuck! The lamp fell down the shaft.”

“One minute.”

He inched backwards until he could stand once more in the small room. If they were both going to fit in the small space he would have to strip off his hard armor. His own joined hers on the floor and he grabbed the last headlamp and strapped it on. He crawled down until he was just behind her. He stopped there, wondering how he could do this without it being embarrassing for either of them.

“I’m going to have to move up and over you so I can shine the light down the shaft.”

“Good. You’ll need to hang onto me so you don’t lose a Private down the shaft as well. But I still need to move forward a bit more to reach the wiring, so wait a minute.”

“Okay, let me know when you’re in position.”

He clasped one of her legs as she slowly moved further along until she was bent in half leaning down into the shaft. Now things became awkward. 

“Alright, just need some light and I think we can get this one done.”

“Right. Moving up.”

He slowly crept forward, using his greater weight to anchor her. The last time he had been in a similar position with a female had been on shore leave with a lovely asari he had met at a bar. He forced himself to recite the names of the colonies in order of colonization rather than think of the warm body underneath him. When he reached the lip of the drop-off he tilted his head so the light shone downward.

“Sorry, I know this is uncomfortable,” he murmured.

“Better that than having me tumble head first down this thing,” she grunted out.

“No kidding, the paperwork is a bitch when you lose a Private.”

She laughed, “Someone save me from smart ass turians.” 

He tamped down on the emotions that raced through him. He hadn’t expected her to be so open and well, trusting. Other turians, even those he outranked, would have had a hard time letting him be in the dominant position.

“What? There is more than one of us?” he countered.

“Yes, my friend from basic is one, too. You guys can form a club or something. There...done.”

He backed up the way he came until he was just holding onto her legs. He tugged gently on her until she once more rested solely on the floor of the shaft. He crawled out and began the process of reassembling his armor. She joined him in a few minutes and they dressed in silence.

“So, uh, Corporal. What’s next?”

He pulled out a couple of water bottles and tossed one to her. Next, he dug around until he found the ration bars he had grabbed earlier. Picking out the ones for her, he handed them to her.

“Lunch before we hit the next section.”

She slid down to sit against one wall while he sat across from her.

“I never thought I would be so happy to see a ration bar. _Thankyouthankyou_.”

He shook his head with a snort. “They got you on paste, don’t they?”

“Yes,” she mumbled around the bar in her mouth. Taking a sip of water, she swallowed it down. “I’m not sure if they are trying to be nice or kill me, what with the flavoring they keep adding to it.”

“A bit of both,” he said with a laugh. “Towards the end of the tour we often get paste as well, and they insist on flavoring it. Most times that ends badly.”

“I wonder what I will be assigned to do tomorrow,” she mused in between bites.

“Hmm, well, about that. Recruits get tasked with various things until someone agrees to be their, well, mentor for lack of a better word.”

“Oh.”

The way she said it, he knew she felt the unease that most of the crew had around her. He had been there once and he would always be grateful for that old turian who had taken him in when he had first joined the crew.

“Well, I can request that you be assigned to me when you aren’t on a mission, if you want.”

“I’d like that. What squad are you a part of?”

“Me? I’m one of the few full time engineers that keeps this old bird flying. Oh, I can shoot, but if I am shooting enemies then they are down in my domain and we are all in trouble at that point.”

They ate in companionable silence, the crunch of their bars the only noise in the small space. He glanced at her now and then, like most of the crew; he had no personal experience with humans.

“How many more conduits do we have to check?”

“Don’t worry, we won’t run out anytime soon,” he said with a snort.

***

Lily stretched and cracked her back after crawling out of the last shaft. Roka watched her contortions, wondering if she realized that all that flexibility was a turn-on for most turians. She slapped her armor back into place without a second glance at him. He kept his thoughts to himself as he handed her a few more ration bars.

“Sorry, we missed dinner.”

“No, you saved me from nutrient paste gone bad.”

“I’ll ping you with where to meet me tomorrow.”

“You’re not coming up to the crew quarters?”

“I, uh, have a cot down in the engine room. Just in case.”

“Oh. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

It felt good to walk after being stuck in cramp quarters most of the day and in no time she found herself standing at her destination. Lily’s hand hovered over the control panel to the crew quarters. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the door and braced herself for the likelihood that her return would bring silence upon the room. The noise level dropped, but not as much as she’d feared. Garrus looked up from the datapad he had been reading and grinned at her.

“You missed dinner.”

“No, I was _saved_ from dinner.”

That drew a chuckle from Garrus and a few from some of the others nearby. Lily stripped off her armor and grabbed some clean clothes, intending to wash the dust from the conduits off her before bed.

“I was beginning to think you had fallen down a shaft.”

“Nah, I hear the paperwork is a bitch if you lose a Private.”

That drew more laughs and a little of the tightness in Lily’s chest eased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thanks to the readers for all their support!


	8. Chapter 8

The vibration of her omni-tool jolted Lily awake. She popped open the message to find that the recon squad was to convene in the shuttle bay immediately with their weapons. She heard movement in the darkened room and she knew others must have received the same message.

Garrus’s locker was next to hers and he had already started the process of dressing. In the dim light, she could see two others getting ready as well. That was one advantage of being human, she found that without spurs, her armor went on much faster than her turian counterparts’. 

There were four total who left the crew quarters, Garrus and Lily following behind the other two. The pair glanced back at them and gave them a nod before continuing down the hall. Lily knew them by name and face from the squad team building exercises that Velox had run in the combat sim room. Although this would be their first real mission together. The female was Private First Class Aella Serlo and the male was PFC Ferox Relmos; both had been assigned to the _Intrepid_ for a year so far. 

They met up with their Lieutenant in the armory, Velox already checking her weapons and stowing them as she went. She turned at their entrance and nodded.

“Good, you’re all here. We’ll be doing a combat drop near where a pirate base is believed to be. Intel says they may have set up underground. We need to confirm the location so the ship can target it for orbital bombardment. Relmos, you and Vakarian will be team one; Serlo and Shepard, team two. I’ll send to your tools the coordinates you need to check. Any questions?”

“Negative, Lieutenant,” they rang out together.

“Good, head to the shuttle bay as soon as you have your weapons.”

Velox strode out, leaving her squad behind to prepare. They moved to their lockers, pulling out their gear, checking each weapon as they went. As one unit, they jogged out of the armory, moving fast to catch up with Velox.

Velox grinned to herself when she first heard the thud of boots behind her and out of the corner of her eye she saw her squad fall in behind her. They marched all the way, until they reached the shuttle bay. A pair of turians lounged against the side of a shuttle but snapped to attention when Velox entered the area.

“Is the ship prepped and ready to go?”

“Yes, Lieutenant!”

“Good, as soon as we are loaded, let’s go.”

Once they had taken their seats, Velox slapped her hand against the door to the cockpit.

“Ready.”

The drone of the engine as the shuttle exited the larger cruiser was the only sound at first. Velox eyed her people; she hoped by pairing the more experienced with her new additions there would be no mistakes. 

“This planet has some gravity, but the atmosphere is toxic so make sure you keep in contact at all times. It’s an arid world, but there are dust storms from time to time, which can interfere with short range communications. We want to get in, get the coordinates and get out. I’ll be monitoring from the shuttle if any problems arise.” 

***

One by one, they dropped out of the shuttle, keeping low and moving away from it. The two teams headed in different directions, although the view along either route appeared to be the same. It was a flat and barren world, and dirt swirled around their footsteps where they walked. 

Shepard and Serlo jogged along, using what little cover they could find. So far, all they had seen was bare earth, dust and a few rocks. Anything that looked out of place or possibly machine-made had to be examined before they could continue on to their destination. 

The pair arrived at their coordinates and had started the process of quartering the area when the comm crackled to life. The sound of gunfire echoed oddly in their suit as well as from somewhere outside their suit.

“Team one under fire by hostiles. Need backup.”

“Roger that. Team two head to their coordinates, shuttle en route for extraction,” Velox barked out over their headsets.

They ran as fast as they dared towards the sound of the fight. As they neared the location, they slowed their pace. Finally, they spotted their squad-mates; the two males had managed to use a small outcropping of rocks to shelter behind, but it wouldn’t be long before the mercs overwhelmed them. A hatch lifted from the dirt and yet another soldier joined the fight against the turians.

Serlo and Shepard quickly scanned the area, trying to find a place where they could set up while still providing support to team one’s flank. Shepard spotted a small rise in the ground; it wasn’t great for protection, but it would give them a good location from which to provide cover fire for the other pair. She tapped Serlo on the arm and pointed at the spot. Serlo nodded and signaled for them to activate their tactical cloaks. They pulled out their sniper rifles and trigged their cloaks before heading to the spot that Shepard had found. If any of the mercs glanced their way, they might be spotted, but it was a chance they had to take. 

As soon as their cloaks finished hiding them, they sprinted to the small knoll. With no grace or worry about form, they flung themselves down and immediately moved to put their enemies in the cross hairs of their rifles. 

“Team two in position. Targeting right. Shepard, take left. Will begin firing in one...two...now,” Serlo stated, her voice ringing over the comm calm and unhurried.

The twin reports of their rifles preceded the collapse of two mercs. The pirates stopped for a second, trying to pinpoint where the new enemy was located. That was unfortunate for them. That was all the time team two needed in order to line up another shot. They efficiently popped out the old heat sink and replaced it with a new one before targeting another merc. Again, their shots rang out and two more fell. 

The diversion gave team one a little breathing room. The two women forced the pirates to split their force in order to engage both teams. However, the arrival of the shuttle and its guns forced the pirates into a full retreat and they dove back into their underground bunker. As soon as the field was clear, the shuttle dropped down, and the two teams rushed to reach it before the mercs could regroup.

They had barely boarded the vehicle when it raced away from the surface of the planet.

“Report,” Velox said.

“Hostiles encountered at our coordinates. Visual on a hatch in the ground that they used to come up to the surface,” Relmos said.

“Team two can confirm. We saw the same thing,” Serlo added.

Velox nodded before going up to the cockpit to contact the _Intrepid_.

“Captain Victus, transmitting the coordinates for the strike. Both teams had a visual of hostiles at that location coming out of the ground.”

“Good work, Lieutenant. You and your squad are relieved of duties for the rest of this day cycle.”

“Thank you, sir.”

***

Lily stifled a yawn as the squad walked back from the armory. Their weapons were now clean and stowed as their LT had ordered. Velox had left to file the official report after giving them the news that the rest of the day was theirs. 

“So how does it feel to be the one rescued this time, Relmos?” Serlo laughed, bumping her shoulder into him.

“Yeah, yeah. I dunno, what does it get me?” he replied, giving her a grin.

“Not a damn thing,” she huffed.

He nodded his head in a direction away from where Lily knew their quarters was, and Serlo bobbed her head in reply. At the next intersection the two of them wandered off, leaving Garrus and Lily to continue on their own. Lily cocked her head and looked at Garrus.

“So, uhh, what just happened?”

Garrus laughed. “Oh, he was totally propositioning her. I forgot you can’t hear the nuances in our speech. She,” he gave a small cough, “wasn’t adverse to the notion.”

“Dammit, I wonder what else I’ve missed.”

Garrus patted her on the head. A grumble escaped her, causing him to laugh.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Very funny.”

Garrus stopped for a moment. Lily turned to look at him, curious what he was up to now.

“You know, they might be on to something. A little stress relief might be called for,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

Lily rolled her eyes. “So let me get this straight. Someone shoots at you and when it’s over, you guys are turned on?”

“Pretty much any fighting. Not so much for humans?”

“Please tell me you’re not asking me because I’m the only one right here.”

They stood in the corridor, facing each other. Lily crossed her arms and leaned against the wall behind her. He wasn’t sure where he had gone wrong but one thing he had learned over the past year was that predicting what a human would do wasn’t always easy.

Garrus scratched at his brow plate. “Uhh. I thought you might want to blow off some steam together.”

Lily’s breath left her in a huff of air, blowing her bangs up. Why was this bothering her so much? Knowing she missed some of the context to statements meant she often felt like she was missing half of the conversation.

Her arms dropped to her sides and she stepped closer to him. Her neck craned upward to watch his face.

“I know we are just friends, but if you proposition someone, at least make it sound like you like her and she isn’t just, I don’t know, the only one available at the moment.”

He snorted at that, peering down at her.

“You know I like you, you’re my best friend. I’m sorry. Even though I’d just told you about Serlo and Relmos, I, uh, let my sub-vocalizations handle some of the meaning.”

She smiled up at him. “Good, because I have to at least like someone before I sleep with them. So yeah, next time try to remember I can’t hear all that subtext going on.”

“Right then, off to the quarters then,” he said. His shoulders sagged a little knowing he had blown it this time.

He started to turn away when she placed a hand on his arm. He looked at her.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to be your choice because there was no one else around.”

“Oh. Well.”

“I assume you know of somewhere we can go, so lead on, Romeo.”

“Romeo? Who is that?”

“Never mind, it was a joke.” She laughed at the confusion in his voice.

He shook his head with a laugh. “Of course I do. How many times do I have to tell you, we plan for everything.”

She bumped her shoulder into his arm and grinned at him.

“Must have been one hell of an orgy after the Relay Incident.”

He laughed, “You think that was impressive, imagine the celebration after the end of the Krogan Rebellions.”

“No wonder there are so damn many of you now.”

“It does explain a lot, now that I think about it,” he chuckled.

He motioned down one of the corridors. They had just resumed their trip when he stopped suddenly.

“Wait! Did you say you...liked me?”

“I’m impressed with your keen powers of observation there, Vakarian.”

***

Velox opened the messages she had just received. Relmos and Serlo had replied to her request for feedback on their new additions. 

_Vakarian performed well under stress. Excellent shot and good instincts - Relmos.  
_

_Shepard followed direction well. Calm and collected. A good eye for both shooting and assessing battlefield conditions quickly. - Serlo._

Now that she had that, she could turn in her complete report to the Captain. She added the information to the datapad as she headed to his office. She knocked on the door.

“Come in,” was the muffled reply.

She opened the door to find Victus at his console.

“Ah, Lieutenant, you have my report I see.”

She handed the datapad to him.

“Yes, sir.”

“I see they have both found other duties, good. I was worried it might take awhile for Shepard.”

“Corporal Roka picked her up right away. It’s a good fit. I have to admit, I was afraid she would end up in cleaning.”

“Yes. And their first live mission went well I see. Excellent, their performance in their war games gave every indication they would be an asset. Always good to see my instincts were correct.”

Velox snorted, “Sir, one thing I have learned serving on the _Intrepid_ is that your instincts usually are.”

“Thank you Lieutenant. I’ll try and live up to your expectations,” he chuckled. “Now go and enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Yes, sir!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help with this story. And thank you to the readers who are enjoying this!


	9. Chapter 9

The best benefit to serving on a cruiser class, she had found so far, was that she had access to a combat sim room. In fact, all soldiers were expected to log so many hours a week in it in order to keep their skills sharp. However, that was never a problem, as the turians seemed to thrive on combat. The sim room and the sparring ring were by far the favored places to find them. 

The mission she had programmed in was nearly finished and her second round wasn’t until later in the evening. Lily ducked as a bullet whizzed over her head. A grin crossed her face as she finished off the last batarian pirates from the program and stood up with a sigh. As she left the room, she nodded at the group of turians who entered. 

She sat down on one of the benches to watch the sparring ring while she waited for her next turn in the rotation of the sim room. Currently, Garrus and another male turian were in the ring. She winced as Garrus took a blow, but it didn’t seem to faze him. The pair of them were happily wailing on each other.

“What? You aren’t waiting for a turn in the ring?” a familiar voice asked.

Lily smiled over at Corporal Roka. “No, Corporal, I think I’ll wait until the crew is a little more comfortable with me. I’d hate to get in there with someone who wants to show the upstart human where her place should be. Besides, most of the moves I would use in a real fight aren’t allowed in the ring.”

Roka snorted, “Please, when we are off duty you can call me Ceryx. And what exactly would you do if it was for real?”

“I’m Lily, and ah, well, I’d grab hold of both mandibles and pull them apart as hard as I could. While they are reeling from that, well, you finish them off, preferably with a gun.”

One hand flew up to cradle the mandible closest to her. “Ouch! That’s just mean!”

“Like I said, I would only use that in a real fight, although I would prefer to shoot them before they got that close. Right now, I’m just watching my friend in the ring while I wait for my next round in the sim room.”

“Oh? Which one is he?”

“The grey one with the blue colony paint.”

Ceryx studied the one she had pointed out; he must be the friend from basic she had mentioned. He moved well in the ring; young and frankly, everything he was not. He tried not to let that get to him.

“You know, I have the sim room next, want to join me?” he asked.

“I’d love to.”

“Any preferences?”

“Oh, surprise me. I haven’t tried out all the different scenarios yet.”

They didn’t have too long of a wait before the room cleared once more and Lily and Ceryx could enter. She picked up her choices in the mock weapons and waited while he programmed their mission. The surroundings turned into a lush tropical forest, complete with exotic animal noises. She took up a spot behind a fallen log.

“Oh! I haven’t tried this one yet. Who are we fighting?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said. He picked up an assault rifle and placed a pistol on his hip before he crouched down beside her. 

Lily placed the sniper rifle up on the top of the log, ready for when the first wave of enemies showed up. Ceryx grinned at her and her first choice of weapon.

“So I get to be bait while you sit back here and snipe them all?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect your fragile engineer’s ass,” she said, giving him a grin of her own.

“Ha! I’ll be saving your ass when they creep up on you. Damn snipers squeal when someone gets too close.”

She gave a snort of derision. “I do not _squeal_. Squeak maybe, but never squeal.”

He laughed and then out of the corner of his eye he caught the telltale shimmer of a geth hunter stalking towards them.

“Hunter on your right, Lily.”

“Ooo geth!”

Her first shot stripped the machine of its cloaking shield and in a matter of seconds, a second one took the machine down. He tore his eyes away from watching her and glanced back at the field. He turned to find a trooper jogging towards them. He popped out of cover and sent several short bursts from his rifle until it dropped. 

They quickly fell into a rhythm as the speed of the enemies increased. She picked off what she could from a distance and he dealt with those that got close enough for him to take care of. He could see why she was one of the rare humans picked to serve on a turian ship. When the last one fell, he gave a disappointed hum. 

“We should do this again sometime. I forgot how much fun it is to fight with someone.” 

“You know, I have the room next if you want to go again.”

“How did you manage that?”

“Oh, when I put in my requests they both ended up on today’s rotation.”

“Sounds like fun. What are you going to program it for?”

“Oh, I figure I’ll just put it on random and see what happens.”

He groaned. “Spirits. If I remember right there are some really odd things available.”

Lily opened the panel, put in her access code, and set the program on random. She had just turned back to Ceryx when the room’s temperature suddenly dropped and the scene changed to a wintry forest. Snow crunched underfoot and the cold air blowing about them revealed their breath. 

“AArrrggghh. This is fucking cold!” Ceryx said as he attempted to escape the wind by huddling behind a rock.

“Whose bright idea was it to put this in the machine?”

“Got to cover all possible scenarios,” he muttered. “You do know we evolved in a far warmer climate, right?”

“Don’t care much for the cold, eh?”

“That is an understatement,” he muttered.

Lily set up her rifle on the rock beside Ceryx. From his hunched shoulders to the tightness of his mandibles against his face, every inch of him radiated discomfort.

“Sorry. I’d offer to buy you a cup of hot cocoa afterwards, but I can’t even find one for myself.”

He gave a soft sigh. “Repeat after me: ‘I will not put the program on random ever again’.”

She put a hand over her chest and said, “I solemnly swear, I will not put the program on random ever again.”

He laughed for real at her words before turning his eyes to the field, waiting to see what enemies the machine would spew at them. He saw the first movement in the shadow of one of the trees. 

“Lily, over there,” he said as he pointed out the spot.

She sighted the shadow he had indicated and waited for what he had seen to appear. Not one, but two enemies moved back among the trees. 

“Shit, I see at least two back in there, human and batarian.”

“More coming from the other side. The program must have ratcheted the difficulty up a level!”

She kept her gun trained on the area as she waited until one of the shadows moved into her sight. Ceryx’s fingers flew over the keyboard on his omni-tool, his back still hunched against the rock.

“There. I’ve got a few surprises ready to go.”

“What do you have on there?”

“A defense drone and an overload program that will cause their guns to jam.”

“Nice! Nothing like a little adrenaline to warm the body.”

“I can think of better ways to get warm, but it will have to do,” he murmured as he peered out over the rock. 

Their opponents were sticking to the shadows for the moment, making their movements hard to track.

She wondered if she was missing something. Was there some subtle meaning in his sub-harmonics? Nothing else to do but ask, so she pulled back to look at him. “Were you, uh, flirting with me?”

He gave a soft laugh. “If you have to ask then I’m not doing it right.”

Relief that she hadn’t laughed or said something along the lines of ‘not in an asari’s lifetime’ made his sub-harmonics hum with pleasure.

“Well, since I can’t hear that whole second meaning you guys can do, I try to make sure I’m not misreading anything.”

“I’m well aware of that. Perhaps you should shoot that guy over there before he shoots us.”

“Crap!”

Lily returned her focus to the mission and soon got caught up in trying to stay ahead of the waves of enemies. The drone pulsed to life beside Ceryx, providing more cover fire for them. The pace quickened and they just barely kept ahead of the waves the program sent at them. Then just as abruptly as it had started, the program stopped, and a computer voice stated, ‘mission completed’.

The room turned back into a non-descript gray box and they stood up stretching.

“You know, if this had been real...you would have had a snowball down your cowl,” she told him with an impish grin.

Ceryx tried to maintain a scowl but instead he laughed at her expression.

“Noted, therefore I’ll make sure never to be anywhere where there might be snow with you.”

“It would be fun!”

“Right, because the feel of snow on my skin would make me so happy.”

“It would! It’s invigorating!”

“Somehow I think your tune would change if I dumped some down your shirt?”

She laughed. “Possibly.”

***

Garrus looked around for Lily after he had finally finished all his matches. It was chance that had him looking into the sim room to see if she was in there. He was a little surprised to see a turian at her side as they fought through the enemies in a snowy landscape. A scenario no turian would willingly choose, so she must have invited him to join her. The program ended, but they didn’t exit it right away; they stood talking for a moment before they made for the door.

They exited the room laughing, and Lily nearly ran into Garrus who had been watching at the window. She grinned up at him.

“Hey! How did your match go?”

“Oh, well, I moved up a ranking,” Garrus said as he shrugged his shoulders. His eyes slid over to the turian at her side. He didn’t remember seeing him around, but the ship was big. However, a barefaced turian would have stood out in his memory.

“Oh right, Garrus, this is Corporal Ceryx Roka. Ceryx, this is my friend from basic, Private Garrus Vakarian.”

Ceryx tamped down on his disappointment. He _knew_ that name. Titus Vakarian was a high-ranking turian and highly placed in C-Sec. Everyone knew not to get pulled in front of him while on shore leave.

The two of them mumbled a cordial hello under Lily’s watchful eye. She smiled at them both. 

“Well, thanks for the missions, Ceryx, and see you tomorrow.”

“Anytime, Lily, I enjoyed it.”

Lily walked off with a wave of her hand to them. It took a second for something to sink in for Garrus.

“Wait. She told you her first name?”

“Yeah. What’s the big deal?” Ceryx asked, confusion laced through his sub-vocals.

“Because she refused to tell anyone for almost the whole year of basic. She only told me right before we left,” Garrus replied gruffly.

Ceryx grinned, “Well, it was nice meeting you. Good night.” 

Those were the words he said, but Garrus heard the other man’s pleasure at what he had told him. He wasn’t sure why, but that bothered him.

He was still mulling over everything when he returned to the crew quarters. Lily was already in her bunk, a datapad in her hand. He stripped off his armor and stowed it. A bonk on his head brought his attention to the woman who slept above him.

“Your turn. Don’t cry too hard.”

He took the pad and crawled into his bunk to see what her move had been. Instead of thinking of the game, he was pondering why she had given the Corporal her first name.

“You told him your first name? I thought you hated it?”

“Turian ship, full of turians who wouldn’t know what a lily was if I hit them in the face with one.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. Ah, and I see you made a strategic error.”

He rapped the edge of the bunk with the pad and she grabbed it from him.

She cackled in delight. “A-ha! You fell into my trap. I believe this game is mine.”

The pad dropped back down to him and one glance confirmed she had indeed virtually guaranteed her win for this round.

“How about, whoever loses the most games has to buy dinner for the winner when we get our first shore leave? Well, assuming it is somewhere we can get decent food,” he said.

“Oh, you better start saving now. I plan on having the biggest steak I can find, oh, and for dessert, one big ass hot fudge sundae.”

“Ha! I’ll be having the biggest plate of dyreng you have ever seen.”

She leaned over to look at him with a grin on her face. “Considering I don’t think I’ve ever seen a plate of dyreng, that will be a really small plate I think.”

He smacked his forehead. “Fine, it will be the biggest plate of dyreng _I’ve_ ever seen.”

“Better work on your game then, turian.”

“Don’t get too cocky, human.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Mordinette for all your work as my beta! And thank you to the readers, I appreciate your enthusiasm for this story!


	10. Chapter 10

Shepard typed furiously on her omni-tool as Roka went through the emergency procedure again. Her grasp of mass effect physics was rudimentary at best, but he took it all in stride. 

“Uh, I hate to ask, but can you go over that last bit one more time?”

Roka laughed. “Of course. I know you’re not a physicist by trade. I just need you to know some of the emergency protocols. It’s always good to have someone else able to do these things.”

“I just hope I never have to do one of these shutdowns on my own.”

“Me too.”

He explained once more as she added more notes to the burgeoning file. She looked up and noticed the other two engineers already walking out the door.

“Where are they going?”

“The mid-day meal.”

“Already? This will be a novelty for you, having a real lunch.”

“Oh, I figured you would rather stay here, you know, no paste that way.”

“Who knows, maybe today they found a decent flavor. At least one of us deserves a real meal. Hell, it has to be better than the dry rations you normally eat.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

She tugged on his arm. “I do. C’mon let’s go.”

He usually only ate sparingly in the mess, most of the others as uncomfortable around him as he was around them. But having someone else to sit and talk with, well, he could overlook the awkwardness for that. Which is how he ended up walking side by side into the hall with the only other person who didn’t quite fit in on the ship. 

The food appeared to be halfway decent today, well, his anyway. They even found a few open chairs at the end of one of the long tables. After gulping down the first bite, he chewed slower; it was really quite good for ship fare and he intended to enjoy it and the company for as long as he could. Lily, however, he wasn’t real sure if he correctly interpreted human expressions, but it didn’t appear as if she liked her meal as much.

“That bad?” 

“Not one of their better attempts, but I’ve gotten quite good at shoveling it in and washing it down quickly.”

He chuckled a little. “You know if you had joined an auxiliary unit you would have gotten better food.”

“Need the money,” she said in between gulps of water.

“Family?”

“Yeah, my mom lives on a colony and the taxes are higher there. My dad died a few years ago. What about you? Any family?”

“Yes, my parents and a younger brother and sister. I help them out as much as I can as well.”

“Oh, nice, younger siblings to torment.”

“Not anymore, my sister is serving now and my brother will be in basic next year. They both surpassed me in height a while ago.”

“Oh, that’s not fair. Don’t they know that there is an unwritten rule of the galaxy that the eldest is always supposed to be the biggest?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “I wish. My mother was sick when she was pregnant with me, that’s why they think I didn’t reach the usual height of most turians. And how would you know about that rule? You’re an only child.”

He waited while she shoveled in another mouthful of paste before washing it down.

“My best friend growing up was the eldest. She just about cried when her younger brothers shot up in height past her. She used to tell me that all the time.”

A comfortable silence fell over them as they tried to finish their meals before their time was over. Even better though, he decided, was the fact that her friend Vakarian was currently in the middle of a group several tables over with his back to them. Now if only he could think of something fun and flirty to say to her. _‘Think Roka! Should I complement her skin tone like an asari? Do humans even care about that? Maybe her hair? Wait, what if it is considered ugly by human standards? Crap! You managed to at least say something while your fringe was half frozen and in the middle of a combat sim, but you can’t think of anything while having lunch?’_

He opened his mouth and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You have the loveliest eyes; they remind me of this plant growing outside my parents’ house.” _‘What the fuck was that, Roka?’_

He scratched at the back of his neck as he waited for her response, praying to the spirits that she didn’t laugh at him. 

Lily stopped mid-swallow. “Uh, thanks.”

“Crap, I hope I didn’t offend you.”

He lowered his head and stared at his plate. He blew it. He just knew it.

“No, it wasn’t that. I, uh, just haven’t had much experience with turians flirting with me. Okay, well there was a creepy guy in a bar once. I just didn’t expect it, I mean I’m a human on a turian ship. Not getting tossed out the airlock is a win for me.”

He lifted his head. _Vakarian had never flirted with her? That was the best thing he had heard today._ He gave her a smile.

“Well, I’ll have to work on that then.”

She laughed, “Why do I have the feeling you are a big tease?”

“Hardly,” he said with a snort. “I like you. I just don’t have any experience with humans, well, beyond you. I find myself struggling to say anything and hoping that I don’t happen to hit on that one thing that pisses you off.”

“I’m not sure why you are worried about pissing me off you are still bigger than me,” she said with a grin.

“Yeah, and have you yank my mandibles, or worse I’ve seen you with a gun. Really don’t want to piss off someone who is that good of a shot from a distance.”

“Oh, now see that is how you flatter a girl. Well, at least this one. However, you can rarely go wrong with compliments. Now if you said something like ‘hey baby, wanna get naked together?’, then I might have a problem.”

He erupted in laughter, drawing attention from those nearest to them. “Please tell me humans don’t actually use that.”

Her laughter joined his. “God, I hope not. But that was the first horrible line I could think of.”

Roka tried not to groan when he saw Vakarian’s head swivel around at the sound of their laughter. He tamped down on his feelings as he watched the man head straight for them.

“I thought I recognized that laugh. Not crawling through ducts today?” Garrus asked as he slid into a seat next to Lily.

Lily grinned at Garrus. “No, not today. Today Ceryx is trying to break my brain on engine room emergency protocols.”

“I’ve never heard of any safety protocols that were funny. I guess I should check them out.”

Lily shook her head. “Oh, no, we were laughing at horrible flirt lines.”

That particular subject was not one Roka wished to include Vakarian in. A glance at the clock revealed that mealtime was about over; that would work as a way to end that topic. A fact that numerous people had noticed, as the room began to empty.

“Nice seeing you again,” Roka said with a nod to Garrus. 

He stood up and picked up his tray. “Don’t worry, Lily; I have another project lined up for us this afternoon. One that doesn’t use mass effect physics.”

“Damn, lunch is over already,” Lily said with a sigh as she picked up her own tray. “Catch you later, Garrus.”

“Sure thing. I better get going to the battery before Sergeant Riortin yells because I’m late.”

Lily and Ceryx headed in one direction while Garrus went the opposite way. Neither of them noticed that Garrus had stopped for a moment to watch them. 

“So what are we doing?” Lily asked.

“I remembered what we forgot to do the other day at his mention of crawling through ducts. We need to go fetch the lamp that we lost.”

Lily groaned. “You’re going to have me drop down that chute on a rope, aren’t you?”

Ceryx shook his head with a smile. “Nothing quite so drastic.”

They walked through the ship, descending further down. 

“I hope you’re not going to quiz me on how to get back out of here,” she muttered as they dropped down yet another ladder.

“What? You weren’t taking notes?”

He tried to keep the laughter out of his voice, but he gave up holding it in at the look of absolute horror on her face. When he started laughing, she smacked him lightly on the arm.

“That was just mean!”

“This from the woman who said, ‘oh, I’ll put the machine on random, it will be fun.’” The last statement he made in a falsetto as he attempted to imitate her voice. 

She laughed at his attempt to sound like her. “Okay, you got me there. But I did promise not to do that again!”

Still chuckling as they walked, he finally stopped at a hatch. He opened the door to what looked like a tiny little space.

“It should be in here. This is sort of a catch basin for several different conduits.”

“No light?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll go in if you want. It should be the largest thing in there.”

“I’ll do it. I did drop it after all.”

She got down on her hands and knees as she tentatively crawled in. The only light was what came in behind her. Patting her hands around she tried to find the missing headlamp. Ceryx leaned up against the wall as he watched her try to find the missing lamp. Although maybe he should have gone in, watching her on her hands and knees had his thoughts going somewhere they shouldn’t while on duty.

“Ooo!”

“Good, you found it?”

“No, I think I found a credit chit...sweet!”

He laughed and waited once more. By now she had nearly disappeared into the little space. It wasn’t long before she came back out with the lamp clutched in one hand and a big grin on her face.

“Got it.”

“Anything else?”

“Not that I found, though I could have stood to find some more credits though. What now, boss?”

“Back to emergency procedures.”

She let out a groan. “Right. I don’t suppose you have any idea on when we might get shore leave?”

He shook his head sadly. “Not for a while I would think; we had several days not too long ago. My guess it was when the Captain was watching the war games, most likely yours. Got plans already?”

“Oh, well. I had hoped to get some food for me to stash in my locker, you know, purely for emergency situations. And Garrus is going to owe me one big ass dinner at the rate he’s been losing at our nightly Cascade games.”

“Oh,” he said, his voice soft. Of course, Vakarian would have beaten him to shore leave plans.

“You should come with us. You can watch as I gloat and stuff my face silly,” she cackled.

“Hmm, if you think he wouldn’t mind.” It wouldn’t be ideal, but he would take what he could get.

“Sure. It will be fun. Now, let’s go see if you can pound some more info into my poor abused brain.”

“I’m sure we can stuff some more in there.”

***

Garrus made it to the main battery in time. As he walked, his thoughts were on the fact that Roka seemed not to want to share their jokes with him. So whose flirts had they been laughing at? 

Riortin was already busy working on one of the guns, the protective panel removed so he could access the inside of it. He looked up at his arrival.

“Good, come on over and I’ll show you some of the inner workings on this old girl.”

“Sergeant, what do you know about Corporal Roka?”

Riortin looked up at him and, seeing the look on Garrus’s face, his mandibles flared in a grin.

“He’s a good engineer even though he is barefaced. Why?”

“Uh, just curious,” Garrus mumbled back.

Riortin let out a loud laugh. “Son, nobody is going to believe that. Spirits, his fellow engineers have been gossiping about how smitten he is with his human apprentice to anyone who will hold still.”

“What?” Garrus said as his mandibles went slack.

“Now everyone kind of figured you and that human were an item since you came aboard and you two had been tight as a pack of varren. But since Roka has been seen in her company more and more, we all just figured you came to your senses about that human.”

“That human has a name, Lily Shepard, and she is worth more than most turians I have met,” Garrus said, his voice low.

Riortin chuckled some more at Garrus’s obvious displeasure. He did so enjoy riling up the young ones.

“Seems to me you were the one who failed to show any interest.”

Garrus’s shoulders sank a little and some of the rigidness left his spine at that telling comment. He was right he had gotten caught up in all the activities on the ship and he had failed to let the person who was important to him know that, well, she was important to him.

“Vakarian, if you are dead set on that human then I suggest you tell her. Because if you do nothing, well, there is nothing worse than having a Private moping about the main battery, day after day.”

“I will.”

“Good, now get your ass over here so we can get to work.”

“Yes, Sergeant!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help and thank you to the readers for your enthusiasm for this project! It sure has made it more fun!


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Garrus had made it to the mess hall for the evening meal he found himself at the end of the line. Even among the much taller turians, he managed to spot Lily ahead of him, but at least it didn’t look like that engineer was beside her.

“Lily!” he shouted with a wave.

She turned and grinned when she spotted him. She ducked out of the line and came to join him at the back.

“Hey, you didn’t have to come to the back with me. I just wanted you to save me a seat when you finally made it through.”

She gave one of those snorting laughs of hers. “Believe me, I’m in no rush to see if tonight’s flavor is anything like lunch.”

He bent his head down low until his mouth was near her ear. He lowered his voice so hopefully no one else could hear.

“I was hoping we could talk after dinner.”

She turned to look at him, her brow crinkled in confusion.

“Of course. Something the matter?”

“No, I, uh, just want to talk somewhere more private is all. I have the sim chamber later tonight, would you like to join me?”

“I’d love to,” she said with a smile. 

She wondered what was bothering him. But before she could ask her question about what this was all about, the emergency klaxon went off. 

“This is the Captain. Battle stations everyone, this is not a drill,” announced Victus over the ship comm system.

The crowd in the mess dispersed rapidly, turians jogging in every direction heading to their posts. Garrus and Lily among the throng leaving the area. 

“I’ll ping you when this is over!” Garrus yelled at her as she headed in the opposite direction.

“Okay!”

And with a wave to him she disappeared around the corner.

***

Lily entered the engine room to find all three engineers at their consoles. She trotted over to Roka at his station. 

Without looking up he said, “None of us made it to the mess hall. Against the far wall there is a storage locker; inside it are emergency rations, get some for all of us and water bottles. We have to monitor the systems while we are in combat.”

“Got it.”

She found the locker and inside were several boxes of dextro ration bars and even one of levo along with stacks of containers of water. She pulled out handfuls of the dextro ones and enough water for all the engineers. Juggling the supplies she made her way around the room handing out what was to be their dinner. The other two engineers gave her a quick nod of thanks when she placed the bars and water within reach of them. She returned to the locker to fetch her own meal before returning to Roka’s side. She watched while she ate but kept her questions to herself, not wanting to distract anyone. 

Roka spared a brief glance over at Shepard when she returned. Her eyes were busy following the reports on the systems he was monitoring.

“We came out of a relay and into a pack of pirates. They got at least one good hit on one of our frigates before the Intrepid could bring her weapons to bear,” he said, his voice low. 

“Were they waiting for us?”

“Possibly. We are providing support for the _Verest_ , the one that was hit, while the other two frigates chase some of the smaller ships.”

“Corporal Roka, come over and watch my systems. Shepard can monitor yours,” the other male engineer called out.

“Yes, Lieutenant Masura.” Roka turned to Shepard and pointed at the screens currently pulled up. “Watch these; holler if any alerts or warnings come up.”

Lily nodded and took his spot while he moved to fill in for the Lieutenant. She ended up staying at his station for quite a while as the third engineer requested Roka to take her spot when the LT returned. Fortunately, all of the systems stayed within normal parameters. 

Several hours later, she finally realized that the alert hadn’t been called off yet. By now, Roka was back to monitoring his own system at least. 

“Are we still in battle?” she whispered to him.

“No, we destroyed what we could. But the _Verest_ isn’t at one hundred percent, so we are escorting her to the nearest dry dock. Until she is there, we are on alert just in case they make another pass.”

“Oh, I get it. Where are we going then?”

“Looks like we are heading to the Citadel.”

Seeing her eyes light up with the possibility of getting on the station, he felt it was his duty to warn her.

“If the ship needs major repairs, the patrol will have to leave it behind. If they just need some parts and a few hours to repair it, well, it is possible we might get permission to leave ship. But don’t count on it.”

Her shoulders dropped a little at that, but she nodded. They were well into the night cycle by this time. Lily’s eyes were beginning to burn, and she was just about to ask Roka what they did about sleeping when a message was sent to her tool, a ping echoing from Roka’s unit as well.

“I just sent you all the rotation for the sleep schedule; this way we all can get at least a few hours of sleep. They are projecting that we won’t reach the Citadel until sometime late tomorrow well, today I guess now,” Masura announced.

Lily and Roka both opened their messages. Lily gave a sigh of relief to see she was given the first slot, which turned to a groan. She wasn’t looking forward to walking all the way back up the crew quarters to get a little bit of sleep.

“You can borrow my cot, that way you won’t waste so much time walking,” Roka said.

“Thanks. I wasn’t looking forward to walking all the way up there and back again. What did you guys do before I got here?”

“Well, one of us had to watch two consoles at once, which is a bit of a pain.” He waved a hand towards a small alcove. “Mine is the one on the far left. It looks like I’m next after you so I’ll just come wake you when my turn comes.”

With a weary nod she headed in the direction he indicated. It wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping in her armor, but you didn’t remove it during a red alert. She dropped down onto his cot, a groan of relief escaping her. In moments she was sound asleep.

Several hours later Roka left his post to go take his turn. Lily was already sitting up, rubbing her eyes. She gave him a tired smile.

“All yours, already pre-heated.”

“Thanks.”

He set his omni-tool to wake him shortly before his time was up. Now he could fall onto his bed. It was then he realized that perhaps he had made a tactical error. His bed, and especially his pillow, smelled of Lily. With a groan he ordered his body to behave so he could get the sleep it so desperately needed. 

That became their routine, each of them taking a turn sleeping for a few short hours at a time until finally the red lights shut off and the Captain’s voice came over the speakers again.

“The _Verest_ is safely headed for a dry dock. Her crew believes they will have her back to battle ready in eight hours. So my crew will be granted six hours of shore leave. Use it wisely.”

Although more than a few people would probably unwind at some drinking establishment, everyone knew better than to have more than just one drink. Returning to the ship for duty while intoxicated, now that would not be a pleasant experience.

“Oh, thank you,” Lily murmured to no one in particular. “Let me shower and round up Garrus and we can go get something to eat.”

“A shower sounds perfect. Ping me where to meet you guys while I clean up as well.”

Lily was in and out of the showers and still hadn’t heard from or seen Garrus. She sent him a message finally.

_‘Are you ready to go?’ - L._

She had to wait a few minutes before she finally got a reply back.

_‘I’m sorry. My dad sent me a request, okay an order really, that he wants to meet with me while we are on the station. I’ll have to ping you when I can escape. - G._

_‘This isn’t some cheap ploy to get out of buying dinner, is it?’ - L._

_‘Hardly. Tell you what, I’ll owe you two dinners now. Fair enough?’ - G._

_‘Alright. Ping me when you can and I’ll tell you where to meet Roka and I.’ - L._

Garrus scratched the back of his head. _What the! When did he get invited along?_ He was torn between telling his father he couldn’t make it and telling Lily not to go anywhere with that engineer. On second thought, neither of those options were liable to lead somewhere pleasant for him. With a sigh, he headed out to meet his father at his apartment.

Lily sighed. Poor Garrus, stuck meeting with his father. Of course, if they had landed on Mindoir she would have been told she had to return home or else, so she could sympathize. She typed out a message to Ceryx.

_‘Garrus can’t make it. His dad ordered an appearance. Ready?’ -L._

_‘Ready. Meet you outside the ship?’ - C._

He was leaned against a stack of crates just beyond the gangway when Lily finally exited the ship. He moved away from the crates with what had to be a huge grin, hell, his mandibles were starting to ache from holding that position, but damn if he could do anything but smile. This was turning out to be his lucky day. Not only was Vakarian apparently not interested in Lily but now he wouldn’t have him there while he set about trying to impress her. Now Ceryx was glad he had decided on his best civvies. 

Lily returned his smile with one of her own as she walked towards him.

“So I hope you know of someplace I can get something decent to eat.”

“Don’t know of any places that serve human food, but I know of a place that serves both asari and turian. I’ve been told the asari dishes are pretty good, well, at least the asari I went to dinner with that one time liked it.”

“I’m game to try just about anything at this point.”

“Come on then. Can’t have you starving to death.”

Ceryx pointed out sights as they moved along the walkway heading towards the restaurant he had decided on. It wasn’t super fancy but nicer than some of the others he knew of. Perfect for their needs. 

They were almost there when Lily stopped and gasped, one hand lifted slowly to point out a store sign.

“It says they sell specialties from Earth. Oh, we have to go back there after dinner!” she exclaimed.

Ceryx laughed a little at her obvious excitement. “Well come on then, let’s see what they have. After all, we are right here.”

She shook her head vehemently. “Not while I’m hungry. I’ll spend all my money before I even make it to the restaurant.”

“Hmm. Well, since Vakarian isn’t here to buy you the dinner he owes you, let me. Let dinner be my treat.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that!”

“I want to. Please.”

“That’s very sweet of you. Thank you. I still can’t go in there until I’ve eaten. Never shop hungry, that’s what my mother always told me.”

He shook his head with a laugh. “Well then, let’s go get dinner.”

They continued on, weaving their way through the people bustling about. She knew she was gawking at not only the Citadel itself but also all the races she had only ever seen in vids. Of course, she drew a fair amount of attention herself, since humans were still uncommon on the station. So when Ceryx headed for a door, she was quite ready to get out of view.

The place was about half full, mostly asari and turians in pairs, although there were a few mixed species couples. Lily, however, was the only human.

The asari who sat them at least didn’t gawk, although she couldn’t quite hide her surprise. _‘The barefaced turian and the human...I wonder if there was a cheap romance vid somewhere with that title’_ , Lily thought to herself.

The table she took them to was near the back, right near the doors to the kitchen. At least there were no other diners nearby. Lily took one look at the menu and let out a sigh.

“What’s the matter?” Ceryx asked.

“Dinner is going to be a crap shoot.”

“A what?”

Lily peered up from her menu to find Ceryx staring at her in confusion.

“It means, well, that the outcome of what I select for dinner is going to be unpredictable. I have no experience with asari dishes, I didn’t even think of that before. Oh well, it has to be better than paste.”

Ceryx’s head dropped for a moment. He hadn’t thought of that either. _‘Not a good way to impress a woman when she has no idea what she was even having for dinner’._

“We can look around for another place, if you want.”

“It’s okay, I have a feeling I’m going to have to figure out asari dishes sooner or later.”

“I’m sorry, I should have thought of that before.”

Lily smiled up at him. “I’ve spent all my life on a human colony. I have to get used to the fact that human things are going to be rare from now on. Now, if that shop back the way carries any food, I’ll be all set back on the ship as well.”

Looking back down at her menu she took a closer look at the descriptions. She finally settled on one that sounded something like a stew. Anything that had real meat in it would be a win as far as she was concerned. She put her menu down and found Ceryx had already put his down as well and was watching her.

“Find something?”

“Yep, sounds like it has real meat and everything.”

He laughed. “Good, I hope you like it.”

“If I don’t, it’s not your fault. It’s going to be trial and error for a while while I learn my way around asari food.”

“You’re very brave,” he blurted out.

One eyebrow quirked upward and she grinned at him. “I eat paste on a regular basis, now that’s brave!”

He gave a soft laugh. “No, I mean you left your world behind to try and make a new life. You know, out here with the rest of us.”

“Thank you. My mom thought I was just being foolish and stubborn. But I couldn’t stay there.”

She could feel the flush creeping into her cheeks at his words. He reached one finger out and gently touched, what was surely a spot of red.

“I, uh, is that normal?”

“Part and parcel of being a red head. We blush at the drop of a hat.”

She looked up to see him studying her.

“I think my translator just broke. I didn’t understand that at all.”

She laughed. “It just means that my fair skin shows my embarrassment easily.”

“Why would you be embarrassed?”

“Because I was flattered that you thought I was brave.”

He filed that information away. Apparently Lily was more like a turian female. The asari he knew preferred flattery of a different sort, though of course none of them had been soldiers.

The waitress interrupted them and they quickly placed their orders. As soon as she was gone, Ceryx turned his attention back to his dining partner. 

“You look nice. I mean, you know, out of armor.” Which had sounded much better in his head than the rambling mess that had just escaped his mouth.

“Well, technically you _have_ seen me out of my armor,” she said with a chuckle.

“Ah well, undersuit isn’t the same. And I was on duty, so I had to _not_ think about it.”

“Well, you look nice as well. I must admit, it has been difficult at times getting used to being in my armor all the time. I don’t know how you guys do it.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just expected, so you get used to it.”

Their conversation wandered off to their respective families. A seemingly safe topic for both of them. The arrival of their meals brought an end to that discussion for the moment. Ceryx watched as Lily tentatively placed a mouthful of the stew in her mouth. At her smile, he grinned back at her.

“Okay, no idea what this is, but it’s really quite good. Real chewy bits and all!”

“Good!”

Now he could eat his own meal without any guilt about her having another bad meal. Neither of them talked for a while, instead enjoying the fresh food before them.

He had just put down his own fork when he caught Lily trying to get the last of her stew. He chuckled at her while she scraped her spoon along the bottom of the bowl.

“Did you want anything else?”

“Mmm, no, this was good, and I am anxious to see what that store carries.”

He paid for their dinner and then they were off once more, back the way they had come. The store was large, larger than he expected. Knick-knacks and other small goods lined one wall, clothes along the other and in the center, more shelves stood. Lily made directly for them, snagging a store hand basket along the way. Ceryx trailed behind her as she weaved through the aisles looking for the dry foods area. He laughed at the delighted squeal she let out when she found it. She carefully examined all the selections before she began piling items into her basket.

“Found some things you like, I take it?”

“Oh yes,” she sighed. “Powdered hot cocoa mix, hot sauce, crackers and the best thing ever, chocolate chip cookies. I think with careful rationing I can make all this last for several months.”

“Well, if you are done, I have one more area I would like to show you.”

“Sounds good. Let me go buy this stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to Mordinette for slogging through this huge chapter! And a great big thank you to the readers for all your enthusiasm for this story!


	12. Chapter 12

The large bag of supplies bumped against Lily’s leg as she strode alongside Ceryx. The path they took led them down beside the reservoir that supplied the station with its fresh water. They walked past several benches, some occupied by couples, until they came to one that faced the water directly. Lily placed her bag on the bench and looked out over the artificial lake.

“This is amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it. This is my favorite place to go and just spend a few moments when I’m here. I don’t get planetside much, so this is as close as I normally get to feeling like I am.”

When she sank down onto the bench next to him, he scooted just a little bit closer. Steeling himself, he leaned in towards her, one mandible twitching ever so slightly.

“Lily, uh, crap. I have no idea how humans do this, so don’t take offense if this doesn’t come out right, but I want to see you, you know, exclusively,” he managed to blurt out.

Lily’s eyes opened wide. She hadn’t been expecting that. “I thought, you know, you would be more interested in a friends with a side of stress relief thing.”

Ceryx chuckled. “Well, it seems we both have a gift of eloquence. No, I don’t want a casual relationship. I like you, and I think I would like to explore where it could go without any other _distractions_.” _‘Like Vakarian.’_

“I’m flattered, but really, I’m a human on a turian ship,” she began.

“Trust me; I know what it feels like to not quite fit in.”

“You still are at least turian and not a member of a client race.”

“If you aren’t interested, just say so.”

“It’s not that, you’re funny, kind...I like you.”

“But...”

“Have there even been any human/turian relationships? What sort of stain does that put on your service? What if you never see another promotion because you are with a human?”

Ceryx pulled back a little to see that the look in her eyes was serious.

“I don’t really care about that. It’s not like my parents hold a high tier of citizenship to begin with,” he said with a shake of his head. “How high I can go isn’t real far. And I’m okay with that, I like my job and really, I just want someone to spend my time with. Maybe it won’t work out, but maybe it will. We won’t know until we try.”

“What about your family? What would they do?”

Ceryx sighed. “I don’t know. I would hope they would be happy for me if I was happy. What about you? Are you afraid what your mother would say?”

Lily gave him a small smile. “I know what she would say, but I’m stubborn enough to outlast her if it’s something I want.”

“Like I said before, I don’t really care what society thinks,” he stated. 

Lily dropped her eyes down to stare at her lap.

“And then there is the fact that Garrus is my best friend.”

“I would assume then that you two are not together?”

“No, not like that,” she said with a small shake of her head.

Seeing how her shoulders tensed at that question, he took a guess at what she really meant.

“But you would like to be, I take it? And how long will you wait to see if his feelings change?”

Her shoulders sunk a little at that. He was right. Garrus had never really indicated he was interested in anything more than just friendship with an occasional bout of fun, no matter how much she wished otherwise. 

“You’re right, I know. I just assumed that there was enough stigma on us just being friends that having anything more with a turian just seemed impossible.”

“So you won’t take a chance then?”

Her omni-tool pinged and she looked down to find that Garrus had finally gotten free.

“From Garrus?”

“Yes, I have to let him know where we are.”

Ceryx gave a frustrated huff. The last thing he needed was Vakarian here, but he couldn’t demand that she not tell him. He didn’t have a lot of time to make his case, so perhaps something a little more hands on would be better.  
One talon gently brought Lily’s face up from where she had been trying to stare a hole in her omni-tool. The distant sounds of life on the Citadel dulled to a low buzz around them. Lily’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ as his mouth began its descent towards hers. She hadn’t expected him to know what a kiss was or how to kiss. His leathery mouth plates touched her lips and it was nice. One hand came up and gently touched the side of his face. That touch was enough to encourage him to slide his own hand up to cup the back of her head. Her lips were softer than an asari and warmer than he expected. His heart thudded in his chest at the feather light touch as her fingers traced along his cheek until her hand reached the back of his neck. When her mouth opened under his, he couldn’t stop the low moan that escaped him. A small taste of her mouth was all he allowed himself; being hauled into C-Sec was not on his agenda, so he reluctantly pulled back from her. That red color had creeped back into her cheeks and he thought that was a lovely look on her.

“I, uh, had no idea you knew how to kiss.”

“I’ve spent more time dating outside my species than within. Finding someone who sees past the stigma of my face is a rare thing,” he told her, his voice soft. Fortunately only he could hear the emotions whirling about in his sub-tones.

***

Garrus strode from the cab platform to the floor of the Presidium. That they were there seemed a little too calculated to him. Sure, it was nice enough and most people visited it when they first came to the Presidium, but along its edges, it was considered the avenue of lovers. You only brought someone down there when you wanted some place romantic and quiet to be with them. His gait increased, his long strides eating up the distance down to the walkway. He hadn’t even changed out of his armor, deciding that he would rather not take the time. Getting in and out of his dad’s apartment had been his sole goal at the time.

He descended along the last ramp that led to the paths that circled the lake. Lily’s shock of red hair helped him pick out which bench they were at. Her head was dangerously close to Roka’s. Hopefully, he wasn’t too late. As soon as he was within range he called out to them, hoping to break up whatever it was they were doing.

“Lily, Roka! Finally caught up to you guys.”

Lily’s head swiveled around and a small smile crossed her face at his arrival, but the color in her cheeks made him wonder what they had been discussing.

“You didn’t change?”

“No, I hoped to get in and out of dad’s quickly. Can I talk to you over there...privately?” He gestured with one hand at a spot behind him.

“Sure,” Lily said before turning to Ceryx. “Give us a minute, will you?”

Ceryx only nodded, not sure if he could keep his voice even. He watched as Vakarian led Lily out of hearing range of him. He even turned her to make sure her back was to him. He closed his eyes and looked away as Vakarian bent his head down low next to Lily’s.

“Remember how I told you I wanted to talk to you before the alert?”

“Yes, of course. What’s the matter? Did something happen with your family?”

“No, nothing like that.” He dropped his head and closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Did Roka ask you to be with him?”

She pulled back with a gasp. “How did you know?”

“This is a favorite place for lovers to gather. My father has told me of numerous couples who were given citations for indecent acts in public while down here. So it was a safe guess. What did you tell him?”

“I, uh, haven’t answered. Why?” Her brows were tilted down in what he knew was confusion.

“I wanted to ask you to be with me. And I hoped to do it before him.”

Lily’s mouth opened and closed for a moment, as her mind decided that her translator must have malfunctioned. Had they both lost their collective minds? Or had someone slipped something into their water when she wasn’t looking?

“What? Why now? Is it because you knew he was interested?”

“No, it’s not like that. I’m sorry, I got caught up with things on the ship and I...,” he sighed. “I guess I just wanted you to know that I do care even if I haven’t been showing it very well.”

Her hand grasped his and he gave a small squeeze. 

“That’s not entirely true. You stood by me when we first came on board. Everyone was so very unsure of me, but you never once faltered in your support. That says a lot right there. I honestly didn’t think I could have anything more from you or any other turian.”

He shook his head. “You are worth more than most turians I have met. You are smart, loyal, honest, and a wicked shot.” A grin crossed his face at that last comment.

A little laugh burbled up at that. “Thanks. I like a guy who can appreciate the finer things in life.”

“So, yeah, I guess now I just want to know where we are now.”

“You are my best friend, but like I told Ceryx, what would happen to you if you became involved with a human?” Lily replied, her voice wavering a little.

“It doesn’t matter!”

“It does! What about your dream of becoming a Spectre? How would they view you for being in a relationship with a human?”

“I can’t believe they would give a damn.”

“And if they did, how long until you regretted being with me? And your family? You and your father butt heads to begin with; I can’t even imagine what he would say.”

“Stop it,” he interrupted. “What about what you want? Or what I want?”

“I just want you to be happy. Your future is bright; I don’t want to be the one to hold you back. I’m sorry. I have to go.”

Lily left Garrus standing with his mouth hanging open. She grabbed her bag next to Ceryx.

“Thank you for dinner. I need to go,” she told Ceryx.

Ceryx looked up in surprise. He had expected to see Vakarian standing beside her, but instead he was rooted to where he had been, his mouth hanging open and his mandibles slack. He watched as Lily clutched her bag to her chest and strode away, leaving them both there, alone. Ceryx got to his feet and stalked over to where Vakarian still stood.

“What in hell did you say to her to make her run off?”

Vakarian’s eyes snapped to Ceryx. 

“Probably the same thing you did,” he ground out. His attention was still on the fact that Lily had failed to answer him and instead had left him standing here with Roka.

Ceryx snorted at that. “Apparently not, since she didn’t run off while I was talking to her.”

“She said something about what would happen to me if we became a couple. I can’t...,” Garrus sighed, rubbing one hand along the back of his neck.

“Truly? She said the same thing to me.” 

“She can’t be serious!”

“The consequences don’t mean much to me, it’s not like I have far to fall. But you...”

“I don’t care.”

“So you say now.”

“I mean it.”

Garrus finally managed to get his feet moving and he strode off in the direction Lily had gone. He heard a movement behind him and then Roka was keeping pace beside him.

“Go away, Roka, you had plenty of time alone with her. I need to talk to her.”

Ceryx laughed a little, but there was no real mirth in the sound. “Not going to happen, Vakarian. I’m not just going to step aside because you asked _oh so nicely_.”

Garrus gave him a brief nod, his mind already calculating where she would likely go. Roka must have been doing the same thing, because he took off in a different direction. Garrus glanced over to see that he was heading away from the docks. Good, he knew she would return to the ship. Not only would she want to put up the things she had bought, but he knew she considered her bunk her refuge. With that thought, his strides increased yet again, as he wanted to find her before Roka headed back to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to Mordinette for all her help! It's Friday here, so cookies for everyone! And thank you to all the lovely readers, I'm delighted you are still enjoying this!


	13. Chapter 13

The ship was eerily quiet with the majority of the crew still not on board, most not wanting to return until they absolutely had to. The thunk of Garrus’s boots echoed in the hall as he made directly for the crew quarters. He hesitated for a moment at the door, hoping he had guessed right. The whoosh of the door had a familiar head popping up from the safety of her bunk to see who had entered the room.

“Lily. We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered before falling back onto her bed.

“Fine, then come along and you can listen to me. My shore leave has been crappy enough; I could use a friend to listen to me at the moment.”

“There is no one here. We can talk here.”

Garrus shook his head and strode over to her bunk.

“No, no telling when people will start to return and, well, you aren’t the only one who has climbed all over this damn ship. Riortin seems to delight in sending me around to retrieve an item if he isn’t having me tear something apart.”

She rolled out of her bed, landing lightly on her feet.

“Alright, I’m up.”

He grasped her hand in his and led them deep into the ship to a small alcove that allowed access to the last part of the main gun. It was quiet and seldom used, so the likelihood of them being disturbed was low. With a sigh, he slid down one wall until he sat on the floor. Lily moved to sit beside him, but instead he guided her to sit in front of him. It was a little awkward, but since she was still in regular clothes they could make it work. 

She reclined against him, which allowed him to wrap his arms around her. His head dropped down to rest on top of hers.

“So my dad insisted I come to his place. You know, he didn’t even feed me. How unfair is that?”

“Ah, that would explain the varren growling at me.”

“Shhh, you’re supposed to be listening.”

“Yes, sir!”

He merely laughed for a moment.

“Well, yes, like I was saying, he called me to his place and proceeded to try and line up every possible contingency plan to get me into C-Sec as soon as possible. I tried to explain, yet again, that I wanted to do something else. Which of course he took as staying in the military.”

Lily tipped her head back and planted a gentle kiss on the underside of his jaw.

“I’m sorry. It must be frustrating that he won’t listen.”

“Thank you,” he said with a smile. “Well, he listened when I told him that I wanted to apply for special training to up my chances to get into the Spectres. Of course that was followed by a heavy sigh and that disappointed look only your parent can do.”

“I know that one.”

“Probably saw it around the time that you announced you wanted to join the turian military?”

“Yeah, took me nearly five months to convince my mother that I was serious and that this was the best thing I could do. Of course, I was right.”

“Nagged her to death did you?” He laughed a little at that thought. “So anyway, after I finally managed to escape my dad, I go to meet up with this girl I like.”

“Garrus,” she began.

“Lily,” he replied. “I said I needed a friend to listen. So, hush and let me finish.” 

“So not fair.”

“Did you hear something?”

Lily let out a huff of air. “Go on, finish your story.”

He gave a rumbling laugh. “Thank you. So there I was, telling this girl that I liked her and you know what she did?”

He stopped talking, took a moment to pull at her trademark ponytail, and carefully removed the band holding it in place. He dropped the item in her outstretched hand before returning to run his fingers gently through her hair. He knew she enjoyed it from the delicate sighs that escaped her and, well, he liked it as well. The novelty of her hair had still not worn off for him.

“Tell me then, what did this horrible person do?”

“She gave me some story about not wanting to hold me back and then left me standing there. And I wasn’t even alone, this engineer who had been following her around was there as well. Luckily, I ditched him.”

“She sounds like an idiot. I’m sure you can do better than her,” she grumbled.

Garrus chuckled. “Mmm, no, she has some redeeming qualities after all. She always listens to me. She always laughs at my jokes; you have no idea how important that is to a guy.”

Lily couldn’t stop the laugh at that comment and he joined her.

“There is one thing she failed to take into account though. Which was rather surprising to me, I mean, after all she has been such a good ‘turian’ up to this point.”

“Oh lord, what did I do now? I mean, what did she do?”

Garrus grinned. “Well, she forgot one important thing about turian society. Turians pretty much are allowed to do what they want in their personal lives so long as it doesn’t interfere with their duties. So our good Captain, who picked this human to serve on his ship, is not going to judge me for being with her. Well, so long as my duties are fulfilled. So maybe she should worry less about everyone else and instead let me know how she feels about me.”

She sighed. Technically, he was right, but that didn’t mean that was what would actually happen. The pinging of their omni-tools had him cursing.

“Crap, that was the thirty minute warning,” he grumbled.

“I guess I better go get my armor on.”

She turned so she could face him. She gently traced the edge of one of his colony marks where it traveled just below his eye. She impulsively leaned in and kissed him on his lips.

“I’ll think about what you said.”

“That’s all I want. And I’m here, whenever you want to talk.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.

They walked slowly back to the crew quarters. Her tool pinged an incoming message and she opened it to find it was from Ceryx.

_Please tell me you are either almost to the ship or back on it. Been looking all over for you. - C._

She stopped so she could type a response.

_Sorry. SER3@#$GGTW#_

“Behave, Garrus!” she said, swiping his hand away from her tool.

_Sorry, someone bumped my hand. I’m on the ship. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know before. - L._

“What? I was helping,” he said with a grin.

“Helping...my ass.”

_Can we talk about what happened? - C._

_Give me a little time, okay? - L._

_Okay, just say the word when you are ready. - C._

Neither of them really noticed that they were occupying most of the hall. That is until they heard a voice.

“Excuse me.” The words were polite, but the tone was not.

Garrus bristled at the other turian’s sub-tones and was about to say something when Lily placed a hand on his arm. They waited until he brushed past them and far down the hall before resuming their walk.

“Let it go,” Lily said.

“You have no idea what all was not being said,” Garrus grumbled.

Lily snorted. “I can imagine, but you really don’t want to be pulled in front of the Captain for fighting outside the ring. And just think what your father would say.”

His mandibles clacked against his face as he thought of his father. “Good point.”

***

Lily opened her omni-tool to the ship map once more. It appeared as if the shaft Roka had told her to meet him at was down the next right and down the first ladder. She was in the middle of shutting the interface down when she was slammed against the wall. Pain burst across her face, causing her to cry out as her nose and one cheek took the brunt of the hit. She felt an arm pin her by the neck. Her good eye rolled back, trying to get a look at her attacker. No one she knew, but he looked similar to the one who had been rude to her and Garrus at the end of shore leave.

“Stupid hairless pyjak. You don’t belong here,” he hissed.

She could feel his hot breath brush her cheek. Fearing what he would do next, she pivoted and slammed her elbow hard, high up on his neck. He fell away from her, coughing. Ignoring the blood flowing from her nose or her swelling face, she leaped at him and did what Velox had taught her. She grabbed hold of one mandible and _twisted_ it. He shrieked in agony and dropped to his knees as his body tried to minimize the twisting action of her move. Now that he was not a threat, she released him and moved away from him. One hand instinctively pinched her nose, causing stars to form behind her eyes, as she vainly tried to stem the flow of blood, even as her good eye watched him. Seeing he was down for good, she looked around the hall until she spotted the comm panel. The sound of pounding boots reverberated in the area before she even made it to the panel.

Four members of the security force jogged into view, weapons at the ready. Seeing that the altercation was over, they shouldered their weapons. Two approached the turian on the ground and two went to Lily.

“Are you able to walk to the med-bay?” one asked her.

“Yesh,” was her nasally reply.

Lily’s stomach twisted in a knot as her mind went over all the possible outcomes of this scenario. Her attacker was helped to his feet and together they were marched down to the med-bay. 

They were put on cots on opposite sides of the room. Medical personnel attended to both of them under the watchful gaze of the security team. Her doctor gently removed her fingers from where they were holding her nose. She quickly scanned her face before checking Lily’s eyes. She heard the door open again but was unable to see who had entered until they came within sight of her good eye. LT. Velox, Captain Victus and another turian had entered the room. Velox headed towards her while the new turian headed to her assailant. Victus motioned one of the security team over to talk to him.

“How bad is it, Doctor?” Velox asked.

“Broken nasal bone - that’s minor, I’ll set it in a moment. The swelling of the orbital area is more of a problem. She just missed having a fractured zygomatic arch. She’s off recon until at least the swelling is down and to give her bone a chance to heal. A day or two at the minimum.”

Velox swore rapidly, too fast for Lily’s translator to keep up with. When Shepard opened her mouth to talk, Velox just put up her hand.

“Save it for the Captain.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Velox stalked over to where Victus stood at a terminal intently watching the footage from the hallway. LT. Dasov joined them in a few moments.

“Status?” Victus asked, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Shepard is off recon for at least a few days, until the worst of the swelling has gone down.”

“Nalril is getting his mandible set now. He’s in pain, but is still fit for active duty,” Dasov said, his sub-tones indicating his disdain that the human was on the injured list after a simple run-in with a wall.

“Shepard is a fucking sniper, and now she can’t see out of one eye. So yeah, not much good at the moment,” Velox snarled. 

“I’ve reviewed the footage. Nalril instigated the attack,” Victus said, rewinding the clip back to the beginning for the other two to watch. “He attacked and she defended herself.”

“It looks like she was trying to flee the scene,” Dasov said.

“She’s heading for the panel,” Velox countered angrily, pointing at the screen.

“It’s like you like this human, well, personally,” Dasov mocked.

Victus held up one hand, stopping Velox from replying.

“LT. Velox is understandably upset. We are going after the pirates who hit us, and your man has effectively weakened her unit. Which puts the rest of her team at risk. Without effective intel, well, then the rest of the patrol is at risk. I wish to speak to both of them and not a word out of either of you, do I make myself clear?” Victus asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Victus approached Nalril first. He was curious what set him off. As far as he had been able to see, Shepard had done nothing to him.

“So Corporal, care to tell me your reasoning behind why you decided to attack a fellow shipmate?” Victus asked, his tone deceptively mild.

Nalril’s good mandible twitched nervously. His brain raced for something that wouldn’t make his situation worse. “I, uh, have no good reason, sir. But I didn’t think she would bleed that easily; she is far more delicate than I thought, sir.”

“Hmm, yes, but she still came back and put you down. There is a reason fighting isn’t allowed outside the sparring ring. You are aware of this rule, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Nalril answered, his voice quiet.

“By your actions you’ve put the whole patrol at risk now. We are down one recon scout. I want you to think about that for the next twenty ship cycles as you clean every single bathing facility on this ship on top of performing your regular ship duties. Perhaps the extra work will get rid of any more hostile feelings you might have towards a fellow crewmember. Now, if you are ever brought to my attention again, for so much as scraping the paint in the hallway...I will transfer you so fast off the ship you’ll think you’ve been shot out of the airlock. I’ll even recommend you for say, Invictus; I hear it’s quite nice this time of year. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Nalril hung his head. He tried not to think about what being sent to that hellhole would do to his career.

Victus watched Nalril and seeing that his point had come across clearly, he then headed over to where a medical assistant was handing a bag of cooling gel to Shepard to place on her eye.

“Shepard, tell me what happened.” Victus said.

Lily pulled herself upright. “I had stopped to check my ship map to verify I was heading to the right access panel to meet Corporal Roka. Crap, he’s going to wonder where I am.”

“We took care of that Private, continue.”

“Thank you, sir. So I had stopped and was looking at my map when somebody slammed me into the wall. My nose and one side of my face took the majority of the hit. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do next, so I did what LT. Velox had taught me.”

“Yes, well, I can see you learned that lesson well. You’re relieved of duty for recon squad until a doctor clears you. Report to Corporal Roka for your other duties as soon as the medics finish.”

“Yes, sir!”

Her shoulders drooped in relief as she realized that the Captain hadn’t placed any of the blame on her. Pain blossomed across her face as the medic straightened her nose before taping it down. He waved her out. Still holding the cooling pack to her face, she once more headed off to meet Roka.

She found him body deep inside a panel where she was supposed to meet him earlier. Uncertainty ate at her for a moment. Would he be mad about what had happened on shore leave? Straightening her shoulders, she called out to him.

“Corporal Roka?” Lily said, her voice still off from the tape across her nose and the pack against her face.

“Shepard?”

He backed out of the panel and his eyes widened as he took in her face.

“Spirits! What happened?”

“You might say I had a run in with a wall,” she muttered.

“They released you for duty?”

“Ship only, off recon until the swelling goes down and I can see decently again,” she said. One foot kicked at nothing in particular. 

“Well, I guess you are in charge of the checklist, because I don’t think you’ll be able to handle the wires,” he said, one hand pointing to a datapad nearby.

Roka waited for her to say what had happened to her, but Lily only kept to monosyllable answers. It was going to be a long shift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Mordinette for all her help on this story! And thank you to the readers, I'm delighted you are all enjoying this!


	14. Chapter 14

Roka crawled out from the conduit after having checked the last connection that had been flagged in this section. Shepard sat against the far wall, the gel pack abandoned next to her while she worked the datapad in her hands. The swelling and the colors splashed across her face made him wince. 

“You ready for lunch?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Maybe paste is a good thing now, since that requires almost no chewing.”

“I hope you got at least one good hit in before that happened,” Ceryx said, one hand gesturing at her face.

Lily gave him a wry smile and winced as her face protested. “Figured it out, did you? Well, he did this first, but I finished it just like Velox taught me.”

Ceryx chuckled, “I know you aren’t that clumsy, and no way that much damage happened from accidently running into a wall. I’m glad you finished it at least; any particular reason he did it?”

“No,” she sighed, “just racist bullshit.”

He nodded. It was sad, but that was what he had expected to hear. The trip up to the mess hall was quieter than normal, but so far, she didn’t seem to blame all turians, just that one. Lily’s fingers crept upward now and then, as she gingerly touched the one side of her face. Ceryx took her elbow and guided her around a crate in her path that was on her bad side. He took it as a good sign when she didn’t twitch away from his touch.

“Thanks. Guess I better get used to looking around more.”

“You’re welcome. How long before the swelling goes down?”

“The medics thought it should take a day or two.”

Lily kept her eyes forward, not wanting to see the crew’s reaction to her face as they stood in line in the mess. She followed Ceryx to a table with a few empty chairs, preferring to stare at his back rather than look around her. She picked at her paste; the flavor today was a little better than usual not that it really mattered. She would eat it just like she did every other day. She nearly jumped when someone flopped into the seat on her bad side.

“What the! Did you fall face first down one of those damned shafts?” Garrus asked, an accusing eye turned towards Roka.

Ceryx bristled at the hint of accusation in Vakarian’s voice, but his answer was cut off when Lily jumped in.

“I had a run in with a wall,” Lily said. That statement was accompanied by her jabbing at her paste with the eating utensil.

“Hmm, well, I’m guessing someone ‘helped’ you into the wall, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, and now I’m off recon until the swelling goes down,” Lily said, her voice soft.

“And did you use that technique Velox taught you?”

That brought out a grin followed by a groan from Lily, one hand cupping her face. 

“Well, whoever it was will be easy to pick out then,” Garrus said, his head already swiveling around. “Ah, there he is. Two tables over, looks like everyone is giving him a wide berth. Stupid ass.”

Ceryx looked in the direction Vakarian was facing and spotted a lone male, one mandible bandaged tightly against his face.

“Spirits! You went for his mandible, didn’t you?”

Lily snorted a laugh then. “Told you I would. Velox has been teaching me things to go for on various species we might encounter. I didn’t know what he was going to do next, so I put him down. I was heading to the comm panel when security showed up.”

“Did you hear what his punishment was? Because people are looking at him like it’s contagious,” Garrus asked.

“No idea; their voices were too quiet for me to hear.”

Ceryx chuckled at that. “Oh, well, I have it on good authority that the quieter the Captain is when he is reprimanding you the worse your punishment is.”

“That makes me feel better. I was afraid because he was so quiet that he was only given a verbal reprimand.”

Garrus shook his head, his fork partway to his mouth. “Trust me, he got in trouble. He broke the rules and he lowered the effectiveness of our squad. You don’t do anything to interfere with the ability of the unit to do its mission, and well, not expect to get punished for it in some way.”

They settled into silence as they ate. Garrus pushed aside his tray first and leaned close to Lily. At least with Lily between them he could sort of pretend Roka wasn’t there.

“So, how many colors will all that turn before it’s done? Will there be a pattern or something?” Garrus asked with his mandibles flared in a grin.

Ceryx’s first impulse was to tell Vakarian to stop making jokes, but he could see that his cracks caused some of the tension to bleed out of her. So rather than fight him, he joined him.

“Well, unless she found an emblem to plant her face on, walls really don’t have any patterns,” Ceryx added with a grin of his own.

“Good point!”

Lily chuckled, “Too many, and no. And stop making me laugh. My face hurts enough.”

“Didn’t they give you anything?”

“Nothing while I’m on duty.”

The ping of Garrus’s omni-tool had him glancing down to see what had come through.

“Hmm, wonder what Riortin wants me to do now?”

He pulled up the message and let out a curse after reading it.

“What is it?” Lily asked.

“Squad is being deployed, gotta go. Watch out for those walls while I’m gone,” Garrus teased.

Lily grabbed his hand before he could walk off. “Watch yourself out there. I won’t be there to save your ass this time.”

“Ha! Well, okay, maybe you and Serlo ‘helped’.”

Garrus resisted the impulse to brush his forehead against hers, instead he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and then he left. Lily watched him leave and then turned her face back down to her own tray. 

“I’m done, how about you?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ceryx said.

***

By the time they headed back to the mess hall for the evening meal, Lily was tired. Ceryx had stepped up the pace all afternoon, not that they had been slacking before, but he realized she needed to keep herself occupied. Her body may have been busy, but her mind had been racing to every possible worst-case scenario. The mess, they found, was barely occupied.

“Well, that’s not good,” Ceryx said, his eyes taking in all the empty chairs.

“Where is everybody?”

“Deployed to the same place your squad was, most likely.”

“Fuck.”

“Yes, exactly. Come on, might as well eat. I’m sure they will be back soon.”

Ceryx watched Lily pick at her food, more like stab at it. Resolving to try and take her mind off of her missing squad, his mind struggled to find a topic of conversation.

“So, uh, did you always want to be a soldier?”

Lily smiled. “Well, my dad taught me to shoot when I was young, well, by our standards at least, and it seemed to be the best thing I could do with that skill. I mean, I guess I could have joined a merc band, but I don’t know - they just seem like thugs to me.   
What about you?”

“Me? My mom is an engineer, but my dad is in security at the place where my mom works. That’s how they met. I guess I take after her the most, since it looks like I’m the only one that will follow in her footsteps. My sister is training to be a medic, and my brother is happy being a soldier.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Colony marks - I mean I get it’s where you are born. So not having any mean you were born outside of Hierarchy space?”

Ceryx shook his head. That was probably the nicest way anyone had ever asked him about it. “It’s a little more complicated than that. You can be born outside of Hierarchy space and still have marks; if both or one of your parents has colony marks then you can get them too. So if one of my parents had marks then I could petition for the right to join that parent’s colony and then have a set of marks. But both of my parents lacked any marks and I was born outside of Turian space, so none for me.”

“Sorry, I know it’s a sore spot, but it’s never well explained in any of the briefings or handouts you get on a human colony.”

Ceryx gave her a smile. “It’s okay. I don’t mind telling you, since you’ve never judged me by my lack of them.”

“So couldn’t you petition to, I don’t know, to join a colony so you would have them?”

“In theory yes, but you really have to be an outstanding individual for a colony to accept your petition. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”

Lily took another look around at the mostly empty room again. The ship felt so dead without the majority of the crew on her.

“I’ve seen it this empty before,” Ceryx told her, his eyes following where she had gazed.

“Really?”

“The pirates must be firmly entrenched and in such a way we can’t do an orbital strike. Our Captain is probably down there as well; he always leads major offensives alongside the troops.”

“Thanks, I know I’m just one person, but it’s hard being left behind, even though I know I would be a liability down there right now.”

“I’m happy to keep you company for as long as you want,” Ceryx said.

“Thanks, I think I’ll just head to my bunk and try and get some sleep; it’s been a long day. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright,” he said. His gaze never left her as she walked out of the hall. A sigh escaped him as he headed down to his own cot. He could only hope that she was worrying about all of her squad and not just one member of it.

***  
Lily tossed and turned and looked at the time on her omni-tool for what had to have been the twelfth time since she first climbed in her bunk. The longer they were gone, the worse her anxiety was becoming. She knew this was a soldier’s life, but it was vastly different when you were left behind while your comrades were out in the field. Going down with her squad seemed better than this damnable hell of not knowing. As much as she liked Ceryx, it was someone else who was the only one in her thoughts.

She had finally drifted asleep when the nighttime lights came on. Looking up she found that the room was filling up as the troops returned. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she watched and waited anxiously for Garrus to show up. She prayed to whatever benign entity of the universe that might be out there that he would walk up to their bunk unit. A stupid grin crossed her face when she finally spotted his now familiar one coming towards her; he must have spotted her, because an answering smile spread across his.

“Hey, I figured you would be asleep.”

“Yeah, that’s not been going so well. Too worried about a certain turian.”

He moved in closer, even though his bunk was calling to him. He wanted to touch base with Lily, at least for a moment.

“Hmm, I wonder who?” he teased.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine. All night long I’ve been thinking about him and well, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to talk to Ceryx.”

His mandibles flared in a grin even as his heart leapt in his chest. “And just what have you been thinking about all night long?”

“That I would regret it if I let him slip away and I swore that if he came back in one piece I would like to find out what it would be like to be a one turian woman. You know, if he was still interested.”

Garrus brushed his forehead against hers and hummed low. “Yeah, I think that sounds like an excellent plan. Oh, and before I forget, any walls give you any trouble while I was gone?”

She gave a low laugh. “No, they all behaved. Get some sleep. You look like you’re about to fall over.”

He finished stripping off his armor and climbed into his bunk. The trials of earlier were forgotten with the thought of what Lily had told him just moments ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers for letting me know that you enjoy this story! 
> 
> As a side note, the whole bit about bare faced turians is my head canon based off of what little we know from game info.


	15. Chapter 15

Lily’s omni-tool vibrated. A glance at the time, and it was obvious it was time to wake up. As she stumbled out of bed, a few of the other inhabitants of the room grumbled at the noise she made as she dressed. Garrus’s head was turned away, but she could hear his gentle breathing a sound she had gotten used to since basic. A quick glance around the room and it looked like everyone had come back. Once her armor was in place she headed out to start the day.

The bathing facilities were just as quiet, the usual crowd still asleep in their beds. There was one individual in the room, though: her attacker from the previous day. He looked up at her entrance and threw her a dirty look before returning to scrub the sink he was in front of. She skirted around him in order to use one further away. Choosing to ignore him, she went about her morning routine and was almost out the door when he finally spoke.

“Not going to gloat?” he sneered.

“No, I’m just here to do my job.”

“You aren’t worthy enough to serve the Hierarchy,” he hissed.

“Well, go tell the Captain that, I’m sure he would appreciate your opinion,” she said dryly.

With having said that, she left the room. Nalril swore under his breath as he continued to work. His squad had been part of the firefight on the asteroid, and like them, he had been excused of his regular ship duties. However, the Captain had seen fit to tell him that his punishment still stood. So while his comrades slept he still had to clean bathrooms. A fact that ate at him, along with the knowledge that it appeared that the human was untouchable. He took some of his anger out on the next sink to be scrubbed. The sound of the door opening again had him turning to see if the human had returned. Instead, it was his squad leader.

“Sir!”

“Good, you are already at work.” Dasov leaned against the wall nearest to Nalril. “You really are an idiot. What were you thinking? Openly attacking her on the ship?”

“Sir? I thought you didn’t like the human either?”

“Yes, but I’m not stupid enough to do anything that will put the mission at risk. What set you off, anyway? It’s obvious she never saw you coming.”

Nalril scrubbed harder, mad at everything his officer had just said to him.

“I ran into her before with another turian, Vakarian I believe. It was disgusting how he was practically purring at her and she can’t even hear it!”

Dasov laughed a little and shook his head slowly. “So attacking her did what? Oh, it got you in trouble and if anything, it garnered her some respect. And you got toilet scrubbing as a punishment. If you want to hurt her, you need to do it smarter than that.”

Dasov turned on his heel and left Nalril to his work. Nalril watched his departure, his mind mulling over what Dasov had said. Dasov’s mandibles twitched into a grin as he strode down the hall.

***

Lily found Roka at his terminal. She glanced behind her one more time; that spot between her shoulder blades still twitched uncomfortably. Ceryx glanced over and watched as Lily waited for someone to appear, he guessed.

“What’s the matter? Someone bother you?” he asked, turning around to watch the door with her.

“No...yes, well I ran into the guy that attacked me. He was cleaning the bathroom.”

“He didn’t do anything, did he? I mean, if he did, you can go report him.”

“No, not really. Just...he gives me the creeps, you know what I mean?”

“Yep, though he would have to be beyond stupid to do anything to you now. From what I hear, Victus doesn’t tolerate troublemakers. If you get pulled in front of him a second time for the same sort of thing, he transfers you off the ship and after that your postings rapidly get worse.”

Lily nodded and turned away from the door.

“Well if he is back, that means the rest are as well, right?”

“Yeah, they came in late in the night cycle. It looked like all the bunks were filled, but I wasn’t going to check too closely.”

“Probably a good thing,” he said with a laugh. “Come on, I’ve got some more procedures to go over with you.”

“Hey Ceryx, can we meet up after shift...to, you know, talk?”

“Of course, I’ve just been waiting for you.”

“I know. I appreciate your patience.”

He held in the sigh that threatened to escape. He could just tell by the way that she held herself that this was not going to be the discussion he had hoped it would be. Throwing himself into work was the only thing he could do for the moment.

***

By the time the mid-day meal came around, he figured it was better just to get it over with. She gave him a quizzical look when he reached into the supply cabinet and pulled out ration bars and containers of water for them both. 

“Come on,” he said.

Lily followed along, wondering what he was up to. Without another word, he led her down to one of the little used areas of the ship. She looked around but waited for him to say what it was they were doing here. Ceryx turned and faced Lily.

“You’ve made a decision already, haven’t you?” he asked, his eyes watching her closely.

“I’m that easy to read?” she sighed.

He snorted a small laugh. “Call it a wild guess. You’ve been tense all morning, more than just a run in with that ass would cause. And it’s painfully obvious that you’re dreading talking to me. I had hoped you would talk to me before you decided anything, but I guess all I can say is I hope you made the right choice.”

“It was the only one I could make. It wouldn’t be fair to try and start a relationship with you when I was thinking about him. You deserve so much more than that.”

“Well, I guess I can’t blame you for picking the better looking one of us,” he said, a hint of bitterness in his sub-tones.

At that, she let out a small laugh. “Ceryx, really? I’m human, I don’t see you as other turians do. To me, all of you are tall and spiky. If I were choosing someone based solely on looks, I probably would have picked you. I like your color, it reminds me of chocolate, which I adore, and you don’t tower over me quite so much as Garrus does.”

“I, uh...well, thank you.” His eyes opened a little wide at that comment. It was unexpected, but it felt good to know that his appearance didn’t hold him back for once.

“Garrus and I have been friends for a while, and well, I never thought he might feel for me what I felt for him. But after last night and not knowing if he was going to come back safe, I figured if I was going to take a chance-”

“I get it. I appreciate you telling me. Meet me back in the engine room at the end of the break.” He turned and headed for the door.

“For what it’s worth,” she said, causing him to stop, “I think you are a great guy and you deserve someone who will put you first. And I couldn’t.”

He gave her a nod before he left. Lily slumped down against one wall. _‘Well, that went well. Probably lost the only other friend I’ve made since I’ve come on board.’_ Not much she could do now about it. The ping of her omni-tool was a welcome distraction.

_Hey, you want to meet me for lunch? I’m starving! - G._

She had to smile; there was at least one bright spot in her day.

_Sure, on my way. - L._

She found him standing outside the mess; a grin crossed his face as she came towards him.

“No Roka?” he asked, peering behind her.

“No,” she said softly. “I, uh, had that talk with him.”

“Ah. I’m sorry,” he began and then shook his head a little. “Okay, not really.”

“Be nice!” Her words punctuated with a smack on his shoulder. 

“Sorry. I hope you at least didn’t use that ‘let’s just be friends’ line?”

That earned him an eye roll. “Of course not. Let’s get some food and you can tell me what happened yesterday.”

More chairs were full at least, though the room was nowhere near full capacity. They settled at the end of a table, giving them the illusion of some privacy. 

“Well, we definitely could have used you yesterday,” Garrus began.

“Gah, don’t tell me that. I was so worried, especially when we found the evening mess all but deserted.”

Garrus sighed. “We got pinned down; Velox had to call for backup. It was, ah, ugly.”

“Okay, never mind,” she said shaking her head. “I don’t think I want to know anymore.”

“Well, you weren’t the only one worried,” he said, his voice hummed with emotion. He dropped his voice even lower, forcing her to lean in closer to him. “I was all prepared to come back and make you listen, well, assuming I made it out. The three of us were together and we had to hold out until the ship’s soldiers made it to us.”

“I’m sorry; I wish I had been there to help.”

He shook his head. “No, what I meant was that I realized that nothing is certain. I mean, I always believed, ‘hey, we are the turian military, not much can stand against us’. That may be mostly true, but there are times when we lose and we nearly did down there. We were low on ammo by the time our backup arrived.”

“I wanted to be there. Anything had to be better than being here and not knowing what was going on.”

She laid her hand over his and gave a gentle squeeze, bringing a small smile out at least.

“Yeah, well, I would love to flatten the jerk that hurt you. Believe me, lots of people were not amused that the recon squad was down one person because of him.”

“Well, he was cleaning bathrooms this morning when I got up for my shift.”

Garrus snorted a little at that thought. “Good, he must have been tired from the fight and then he had to do that.” He turned towards her. “He didn’t do anything, did he?”

“Not really, just said I wasn’t worthy to serve the Hierarchy,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Garrus grinned. “He really needs to listen to the rhetoric more. We are all supposed to serve, regardless of species. I should get my dad to lecture him on that aspect of our society. I know I’ve sat through more than one such session from him.”

“He’s not against humans serving?”

“No, you are part of the Hierarchy now; therefore you should all be doing your part protecting all parts of it. If he had his way, it would be mandatory for humans, just as it is for turians. When I asked him about the volus, he informed me that they serve by being the financial people the Hierarchy needs to keep the state running smoothly.”

Lily laughed a little. “Yeah, it would be hard to be a soldier when your fastest pace is a walk.”

“Not to mention, one breach of their suit and they are dead. From what my dad told me, it’s rather explosive...and messy.”

“Eww, thanks! I needed that image while eating.” The glare she directed at him didn’t seem to faze him.

Garrus laughed. “Hmm, I always did wonder where paste came from.”

Lily slugged him on the shoulder. “Not funny!”

Garrus laughed harder and poked at what remained of her lunch. Neither of them noticed Nalril not far from where they were. Or felt the sullen glare that was directed at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers for your continued support of this story, I appreciate it!


	16. Chapter 16

Lily found Roka at his terminal after lunch, much as she would expect on any other day. She had expected to see a message from him after their brief talk, saying that he was releasing her from his service putting her back in the pool, so to speak. Maybe he was going to tell her in person; yes, that was more his speed. Better be official until she found out what was going to happen.

“I’m back, Corporal.”

Ceryx gave her a brief nod. “I found another area we need to check.”

“Oh, okay.”

That stopped him; there was something off in her voice. He turned to look at her. “What?”

“I figured you would release me, you know, after what happened,” she said softly.

“Why? Is that what you want?”

“No! I was afraid that you would.”

He sighed. “I won’t deny that the thought did cross my mind, but I can use the help. You ready to get to work now?”

“Ready, Corporal!”

Roka shook his head. “I thought we established that just Roka is fine.”  
She gave him a grateful smile and he mentally kicked himself for thinking that this could even work. Too late, he had dug this hole and now he had to deal with it. Although, going back to solitude held no appeal either.

***  
 **~One week later~**

Lily and Garrus sat in the mess hall finishing off their evening meal. The colors of the bruises had begun to fade, the swelling was gone, and she had finally been released to join her squad.

“I have the sim room tonight. I want to invite Roka to join us,” she said in between bites.

Garrus’s fork hovered in mid-air, his mouth hanging open.

“Uh, why?”

“Because I know what it’s like to have only a few friends. He could have released me back to the work pool and I probably would have ended up scrubbing toilets with my good ‘friend’, but he didn’t.”

“Fine. Send him a message then.”

“Oh no, we are going down to the engine room and dragging him out if we have to. Trust me, he is a great guy and I’ll bet you’ll like him once you get to know him.”

Garrus made some sort of grumbling noise and Lily reached over and gently took hold of him by one mandible.

“Hey! Watch it!”

She leaned in close to him and said in a low voice, “And you will be nice or else.”

“You’re so mean,” he muttered. Then he leaned into her hand, a slight purr to his sub-tones. “You do know that a reward is a much better motivator, right?” 

She smiled and released his mandible. Her hand caressed his cheek before she ran her blunt nails down the side of his neck. His whole body shivered for a moment as his eyes closed in bliss.

“Well, who knew? I’m sure I can think of something that you might like. Perhaps another lesson in the superiority of a human mouth and everything it can do for a certain turian?”

“Yespleasethankyou,” he blurted out when her fingers fell away from him.

“I have your full cooperation now?”

His eyes popped open and he shifted in his chair. “Hmm, right. Umm, yes.” He cleared his throat as he got his body back under control. “Have you thought that he might not be ready to deal with us together?”

“That’s why the sim room is perfect. We rarely flirt in there; we are always too busy trying to outshoot each other. And isn’t combat the great turian equalizer? I’m hoping this will help ease the way so we can still be friends.”

Garrus sighed, “Alright, if you are sure, then let’s give this a try.”

The entire walk down to the engine room, Lily’s nerves were on edge. What if Garrus was right and Ceryx wasn’t ready yet? He had been unfailingly polite and professional during work hours, but the flashes of humor and wit she had seen before had all but disappeared.

They found Roka sitting on his cot, reading a datapad. He looked up at their entrance with a confused flutter to his mandibles.

“Yes?” he asked.

“We have the sim room, and we think you could use some time shooting things with us. I even promise not to put it on the snowscape,” Lily said with a grin.

“That’s not even funny,” Garrus grumbled.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll just sit here reading,” Ceryx said, his voice stiff.

“Ceryx, shooting things is very therapeutic. This will be my first sim run since I’ve been cleared for duty. Come on, I bet you haven’t clocked your hours this week?”

Ceryx sighed. She was right, he still had to log his hours this week. He hadn’t wanted to do a solo run once more now that the one person he had wanted to do it with was out of his reach. 

“Fine,” he said, putting down his datapad. “But only because I need to clock the hours.”

Garrus leaned in close to Roka and said in an overly loud whisper, “You have to watch her, she cheats.”

“Ha! Keep telling yourself that when I beat your score, _again_.”

“Big talk from a puny human,” Garrus said patting the top of her head.

Ceryx shook his head and stifled the laugh that threatened to come out as he watched Lily smack the other turian’s hand away. He followed along behind the pair, wondering what he had gotten himself into by agreeing to this.

They entered the room to find it packed with turians, both waiting and watching, as usual. Currently, two turians fought in the sparring ring, but Lily only spared the match a glance before continuing towards the sim room. 

“Lily, look,” Garrus said with a chuckle, pointing at the combatants.

Lily turned and on a closer look, she found that it was Serlo in the ring with the turian who had attacked her. He was easily identifiable by the one mandible taped down still. The three of them stopped to watch the match.

“That’s Serlo. She’s my partner in our squad. Ooo that was a good hit,” Lily told Ceryx.

“His name is Ciran Nalril,” Garrus stated.

“How did you find that out?” Lily pivoted to look at Garrus; his eyes, however, were still on the match.

“Not the son of a C-sec detective for nothing,” he replied with an amused flick of his mandibles.

As they watched, Serlo stalked Nalril around the ring, landing blow after blow as the other turian vainly attempted to evade her. His own retaliatory blows were blocked or ducked by the female.

“She’s kicking his ass. I’m surprised they would even be on the same tier,” Lily said.

“They aren’t,” Ceryx added. “She’s ranked much higher than him. She must have challenged him solely to settle a grudge. This is what Nalril should have done instead of attacking you in the hall.”

Lily’s omni-tool pinged an alert. “Room will be free in a few minutes.”

“Don’t worry, Serlo will be done with him before that,” Garrus said with a grin.

Sure enough, Serlo snaked one leg behind his and yanked him off his feet. The judge moved in to separate the pair. Nalril raised his hands in defeat. Without another glance at him, Serlo stalked out of the ring and headed out the door.

“I wonder why she didn’t challenge him right after the mission?” Lily asked, watching her squadmate leave.

“You’ve been so excited about being cleared for duty that we all knew that tonight was your first sim mission since the attack. She must have arranged it so you could see it,” Garrus replied.

“I didn’t think she liked me that much,” Lily mused.

“It’s not about like, really. It’s more of, ‘you don’t fuck with my team’,” Ceryx added in.

“Well, whatever it was, I appreciate it.”

The sim chamber emptied out and the three of them entered.

“Ceryx, would you pick the mission parameters?” Garrus asked. “That way neither of us can skew the mission to favor one or the other of us.” 

He said the last sentence with an eye on Lily. She put on a show of innocence that did nothing to change his stance.

“You two are quite competitive, aren’t you?”

“Maybe just a tiny bit,” Lily laughed.

Ceryx finished setting the machine and moved to join the other two at the weapons table.

“Crap, why did I agree to doing a mission with two snipers again?” he asked with a groan.

“If I remember right, you didn’t get shot on those missions with me.”

“Yes, only because of my defense drone on that last one.”

“Oh, I want one of those!” Lily exclaimed.

Garrus laughed. “What? So it can have a sign over its head saying ‘Sniper here!’?”

Lily gave him a playful shove. “No, smart ass, for when we have to make a strategic retreat.”

“Can you make it look like a flower, Ceryx? She loves those!”

Ceryx laughed at the notion of a defense drone looking like a flower. “Never tried, any particular kind you had in mind?”

“I hear lilies are pretty.”

“Wait! You’re named for a flower?” Ceryx asked, turning to look at Lily.

Lily threw a glare at Garrus, which only made him chuckle again.

“Yes, my mom insisted I be named for her favorite flower,” Lily grumbled. “Not another word out of you.” That statement was punctuated by a finger poking into Garrus’s chest.

The machine fired up and the scene changed to an urban sprawl. They dove for cover, with Lily and Garrus taking flanking spots around Ceryx.

“Yes! Urban sprawl, my favorite,” Garrus called out.

“Who are our opponents?” Lily asked.

“I put the machine on all. So this should be interesting.”

“Yes!” Lily exclaimed with a fist pump. “I want to see an elcor with a machine gun strapped to its back!”

“You are one strange human,” Garrus laughed.

The first few moments had them all on edge as they waited for their enemies to make an appearance. The crack of Garrus’s rifle echoed in the building they had set up in.

“Scratch one! A vorcha.”

“Ugh, I hate those. They aren’t real big on oral hygiene,” Ceryx said.

“Wait you’ve actually seen one, up close?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, we got shore leave on a planet and a few came into the bar we were in. He got in my face to talk to me and well, let’s just say I wasn’t hungry anymore.”

Lily snorted, “Right, no debating vorcha. I’ll put that on my ‘do not’ list.”

Ceryx laughed, “Should I even ask what is on that list?”

“Number one - Do not headbutt krogan without a helmet!” Garrus called out.

“I’m putting the vorcha rule as number two!”

“Right then, number three then is - Do not argue religion with a hanar!” Garrus continued.

“Wait, you’ve seen this list?” Ceryx asked Garrus.

“She made it up one night in basic after we were given a run down on various species we might encounter.” 

“Wave of them coming our way,” Lily called.

They fell into a rhythm and Ceryx found that Lily had been right. It felt good to be a part of a team, even with them. He had expected more flirting, but the two of them spent more time trash talking each other than anything else. It was obvious that she hoped to remain friends; something he hadn’t thought possible before, but now maybe it was a possibility.

***

Most of the crew had retired already as the evening shift progressed on, leaving Nalril to clean bathrooms in relative peace. How to get at the human without being caught was the fuel that kept him cleaning as the night wore on. Unless he messed with the surveillance cameras, he didn’t see any way of being able to deal with her without consequences. 

The door slid open and he glanced over to see who was entering. His mandibles twitched nervously as his LT entered.

“Sir?”

“Carry on. I’m supposed to do these surprise checks to make sure you are actually in here doing your job,” Dasov said with a wave of one hand.

He leaned against a wall and watched Nalril return to his task.

“Sir, I don’t see any way to make that human pay while on the ship. Too many cameras all over,” Nalril grumbled.

“Oh good, it only took you a week to figure that out. You do know that the turian you saw her with, Vakarian was it? His father is a high ranking member of C-sec. I wonder what he would think of his son cavorting about with a human? Ah, well, I’m sure he will find out eventually.”

Dasov watched as the idea took root in Nalril’s brain. He was a good soldier, steady and cool in a firefight, but original thinking was so far out of his realm it was amazing that he was even picked for duty on this ship. He did make an excellent dupe at least. He prayed to the Spirits that he wouldn’t screw this up as well. Dasov waited a moment more, but Nalril kept working so he left the other man to his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And one to the readers for their continued support! 
> 
> Now for the bad news, there will not be an update the week of July 15th as I will be out of town for a few days. Rather than rush the next chapter, I will be posting it the week of July 22nd instead.


	17. Chapter 17

**~Several months later~**

Garrus had barely gotten the door closed before Lily’s dexterous fingers were busy undoing the clasps on his tunic. He turned and scooped her up, laughing at her squeal as she grabbed hold of his shoulders. Their packs lay forgotten at their feet. The room wasn’t fancy, but it was private, something they had only managed to get in very small doses until now. A few stolen moments in some out of the way spot on the ship. But now they had three days well, mostly to themselves.

“Now you’ve done it. You’ve trapped yourself in here with me,” Garrus murmured against the skin of her neck. 

He tasted the skin along her neck, drawing a delighted shiver from her. She switched from trying to remove his clothing to running her fingers down his own neck, drawing a groan from him.

“Are you sure you don’t want a tour of our lovely accommodations?” he asked with a chuckle.

Rather than answer him, she gave him a grin and lowered her mouth to where her fingers had just been. His head fell back, exposing more of his neck to her talented mouth. His fingers dug a little tighter into her ass as he clutched her to his body. 

“Right. Bed. Now.”

“Wondering what I had to do to get you to move the program forward,” Lily laughed. 

“Trust me, I plan on being fully relaxed when I have to meet my dad tomorrow night for dinner. I hate to leave you, but if I don’t check in with him, I’m afraid he’ll just hunt me down,” he said as he pressed his forehead against hers.

“It’s okay. I understand.”

The only open doorway had to be where the bed was located, so that’s where he headed. Sure enough, there it waited for them. Simple to most, but for them it was a luxury. Large enough for two turians, which meant it was very roomy for the two of them. He dropped her on the bed and immediately fell to the task of seeing how quickly he could remove her clothes. She had the same idea as her hands flew across the clasps of his attire. He had to stop for a moment when she entangled his arms in his shirt while trying to remove it. A few quick tugs and he was free from it and he tossed it away from them, not caring where it fell. His boots were quickly removed as well. By the time he had finished and could return to the task at hand, she had already freed herself from her shirt. 

The purr that had been building was finally released as he took in the expanse of skin he now had access to. She had whispered to him as they had walked along to the hotel that she had left her bra off, just for him. At his sudden flustered expression she had just laughed. That device was surely invented to annoy rather than anything practical, something he couldn’t quite convince her of.

He dropped his head and nuzzled first one breast then the other, delighting in the smell and feel of her warm skin. He vaguely felt her fingers working on his pants and he happily helped her remove them. He then turned his attention to divesting her of her last bit of clothing. A task she eagerly helped him with. And now they could indulge themselves fully in each other. 

She reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss. An act he had quickly learned to enjoy. The feel of her lips on his mouth. The gentle brush of her tongue against his. Everything about this moment was perfect. The knocking, however, was not.  


He lifted his head and cocked it, listening to see if he had really heard something. She pushed up on her elbows, her face concentrating on the same thing.

“Did you-”

“Yeah, did you order anything from room service?” Lily asked.

“No.”

And then it came again, louder. A voice could be heard as well, although the meaning of the words was lost through the door.

Swearing, he struggled at least to get his pants on; one small mercy at least was that he was still in his plates. He left Lily searching for her clothes while he headed to the door, a low growl building in his chest. 

“Go away, we didn’t order anything from room service,” he snarled through the door.

“C-Sec. Open up.”

Garrus’s mouth dropped open. Not just because C-Sec was at their door, but that voice - he _knew_ that voice. He hit the door panel and it slid open to reveal his father with two officers at his back.

“Dad?” Garrus asked, his subtones laced with so many questions.

“Sweep the place,” his father ordered.

His people fanned out, though as small as it was it only took a few moments to confirm there were only two inhabitants of this room. Lily had managed to get her shirt and pants on. The shirt was inside out and the pants were undone still, but at least she was covered. The officers checked everything, searching for anything illegal. Garrus was torn between embarrassment and anger at the intrusion.

Lily watched as Garrus stiffened up even as he stood unmoving before his father. She had heard him address the officer as such. And she could see some of Garrus in him. The son now as tall as the father, but the son’s plates still a youthful light grey color and lacking the cracking of his father’s.

A salarian officer approached the two turians locked in a silent test of wills.

“Sir? Everything is clean.”

“Thank you. You are dismissed,” Titus Vakarian said with a slight nod of his head.

The officers quickly left, leaving the two turians and the human alone. 

“Spirits! What was that about?” Garrus’s voice vibrated with anger now that the others had gone.

“I received an anonymous tip that my son was involved in something _illicit_.” 

“And you couldn’t have just, I don’t know...asked!” Garrus growled out.

“I uphold the laws even when they are directed at my family,” Titus said, his voice as stiff as his son’s.

“Well, as you can see, nothing illegal is going on here. So there is the door.” Garrus pointed to the exit, not that anyone would be confused as to how to leave the small room.

Titus shook his head. “I can’t do that. And who is your companion?”

Lily stepped up to stand beside Garrus, wondering what he would say. Garrus slung his arm around her, pulling her in close to his body. She could feel that his anger still thrummed just below the surface.

“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Lily.”

“Sir.”

Titus gave her a small nod. “Garrus, get your things. You are coming back to the apartment with me.”

“No, Dad, I am not leaving.”

Titus sighed. “I don’t want to argue with you. It is apparent to me that someone is stalking you. The information I was given was very specific as to your location. You’ll be safer with me.”

“Have you thought that maybe it’s not me they are stalking? Maybe this whole thing was designed to separate us. I’m not leaving Lily. ”

“I shouldn’t have to remind you that I have made more enemies during my career than this woman has been alive for.”

“And she was attacked on our ship once already. If I leave with you, we maybe doing exactly what they want!”

“Make your case,” he said calmly.

Garrus took a deep breath before he started; he would only get one chance to convince his father. “Whoever sent you that message predicted that you would wish to remove me from here. So who would want to make sure I was gone? Someone who was after Lily. Leaving her alone here without even a weapon. If they were after me, they wouldn’t have contacted you at all until after they had dome whatever it was they had planned.”

Titus watched as Garrus held the woman close to his side. Such physical contact was unusual among their people, but it was apparent that his son had adapted quickly to the human way of things. But his reasoning was sound. He had seen before victims whose only fault was what species they had belonged to. 

“Miss...”

“Shepard, it’s Lily Shepard. But Lily is fine.”

“Miss Shepard...Lily. Would you be so kind as to gather your things as well? My son has a point. Until I know who brought me here and why, it would be negligent of me to leave you here unprotected.”

“I, uh-” Lily began.

“Come on. He’s right, and I’m not leaving without you,” Garrus said.

Not waiting, he took her by the hand and led her back to the bedroom. He gathered his things together even as he watched her try and wrap her mind around everything that just had happened.

“Uh, you might want to turn your shirt right-side out,” he said in a low voice.

Lily looked down, saw he was right, and swore.

“Nothing like meeting your dad with my clothing all fucked up,” she muttered.

Garrus chuckled a little. “Not like he didn’t know what we were doing before he showed up.”

“Can someone die of embarrassment? If so, I think I’m well on my way to dropping dead any moment now.”

Garrus gathered her in his arms and hummed a soft reassurance. He felt some of the tension bleed out of her as she relaxed against him.

“You ready to face him now?”

She looked up and brushed her lips against his throat.

“Yes. How much worse can it get, right?”

Garrus shook his head. “I can think of a lot of things, so yeah, let’s not go there.”

They left the bedroom and grabbed their packs by the door. Titus nodded and opened the door.

“You’ll get to see your mother as well, as she decided to ‘surprise’ me with an unannounced visit.”

Lily let out a small whimper. 

“You hate surprises!”

“Yes, which is precisely why she does these sort of things,” Titus said dryly.

***

Nalril had found a great table at the cafe across from the hotel that Vakarian and Shepard were at. He had lunch and a glass of his favorite ale in front of him and now he could sit back and watch the show. He only managed to take a few bites of his food before two C-Sec squad cars touched down just outside the building. He gave a delighted laugh even as he wondered how long it would take the elder Vakarian to drag his son out. With the younger one out of the way, well, then he could finally take care of that human. It might not bring back his parents, but he would feel better just knowing that the human was no longer on the ship. Whoever decided to take the humans in as a client race, well, they had it all wrong. And allowing them to serve with the turians just went against everything _natural_. Why couldn’t they see that?

The sight of the two officers returning to their vehicle brought him out of his thoughts. He would have given anything to hear what was going on in that room now. Oh, he was sure the younger was arguing about leaving, but Nalril counted on him being a good turian and doing as his father ordered. And what parent would want their child fucking a human? It was unnatural!

He nearly choked on his food when he saw father, son and human leaving the building together and getting into the remaining squad car. And he could only watch in impotent rage as the elder Vakarian drove them away. _NO! This was not supposed to happen this way! The human was supposed to be left alone! Picking her off when she traveled on the Citadel would have been easy then. Or in that room, seeing as the front clerk had told him that most of the security cams in the hotel failed on a regular basis when he asked about how secure was the hotel. Disabling them wouldn’t have raised any alarms. All his plans lay in ruins now._

He tossed down a credit chit and stormed out. His meal tasted like ashes in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! A great big thank you to Mordinette for being such an awesome beta! And thank you to the readers for all your enthusiasm for this story, I appreciate it!


	18. Chapter 18

The gentle pressure of Garrus’s leg against hers was reassuring even as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that they were now going to spend shore leave with his parents. Not to mention the fact that someone had sicced his dad on them. She wasn’t sure what else could go wrong at this point.

“Nalril is the obvious choice for this whole mess,” Lily grumbled.

“My thoughts exactly. You said the tip was anonymous, Dad?”

“Correct, it came in from one of those public terminal cafes. I have people working on it, but I doubt we get anything conclusive from that message.”

“It has to be Ciran Nalril! He was the one who attacked Lily on the ship.”

“Be that as it may, so far we have nothing solid to go on. The only thing I can do is what is in motion now.”

“You should bring him in and at least question him!”

“On what grounds? And what if there is someone else involved? No, until there is more evidence our best option is to make sure you two are not alone. If you two decide to go anywhere, take your mother, Garrus.”

They groaned in unison. The squad car settled down in front of a building. They followed dutifully behind the elder Vakarian as he led them through the complex, nodding politely as the residents gawked at the odd little procession. He opened a door into a tidy apartment. The only proof that someone lived there was the family pictures placed strategically around the area. 

“Nata! I have some company for you,” Titus called out.

“Ti? Back already? Did you decide to take a day off from work after all?” a female voice called out from a back room.

Renata Vakarian strode into the living area with a swing in her step. Her blue eyes took in the scene, the tan of her plates a contrast to those of her husband and son. She came to a halt upon spotting the last member of the party.

“Garrus!”

“Mom!”

Nata moved to stand in front of Garrus. He grinned at her as she took in his size. One hand reached out to cup his cheek before she brushed her forehead against his. She didn’t need to stoop anymore as he was now her height.

“I can’t believe how tall you’ve gotten. And who is your friend?”

“I know. I didn’t think I’d ever hit my last growth spurt,” Garrus said with a grin. One arm reached over and pulled Lily closer to him. “Mom, this is, uh, Lily Shepard - my girlfriend. Lily, this is my Mom, Renata Vakarian.”

“I have to get back to work. Nata, stay with them. Garrus, fill your mother in on what has happened. I’ll see you all after work.”

He turned on his heel and left. Nata shook her head with a sigh.

“Well, come sit down and tell me why your father dropped you two here,” Nata said, one arm gesturing to nearby chairs.

They dropped their packs near a sofa before settling onto it. Nata sat on the other side of Garrus.

“Now start from the beginning,” she said with a pat on Garrus’s leg.

Lily took the opportunity to examine his father’s apartment while Garrus explained their situation. She knew they had a familial home on Palaven as well, in the capital, no less. Although this second ‘home’ wasn’t ornately done, the materials were all of good quality. Hell, this apartment was leagues better than where her mom lived. A place like this, well, this was the goal she had in mind when she had joined the military. A place on the Citadel where she and her mom could live far away from Mindoir and all those memories. A gentle cough brought her back to the present.

“Ahem, so Lily, where are you from?”

“Oh, Mindoir, ma’am.”

“That’s a human farming colony, correct?”

“Ah, yes, my Mom works in the power plant there.”

“No other family?”

“No, ma’am. It’s just me and my mom now.”

“How do you like the Citadel?”

“It’s amazing! This is only my second time here and the first time we only had a few hours.”

“Oh well, then we should do some sight seeing! Yes, that sounds like an excellent way to spend the afternoon. I’m sure your father will be late getting off of work to make up for bringing you two here.”

Renata stood and strode over to the door. Garrus rolled his eyes but dutifully came to his mother’s side when she gestured to him, Lily close behind him. He bumped his shoulder into Lily as they walked out the door.

“This is all your fault, human.”

Lily grinned over at him. “Oh, this will be fun. I’m sure your mom knows all your favorite shops.”

“Well, when he was younger he did so enjoy trying on clothes, _all_ different kinds if I remember right.”

Garrus groaned and covered his face with one hand. “Please Mom; you swore never to tell anyone about that.”

Nata’s tinkling laugh was his only answer.

***

The three of them had arrived back at the apartment, arms full of take out containers. Renata took one look and could tell her husband wasn’t home yet.

“Well, we might as well eat, no sense letting our food get cold. Garrus, set the table so at least we can pretend to be a little civilized.”

“I don’t know ma’am, take out is the height of civilization, well, after eating military issued nutrient paste,” Lily said.

Nata laughed, “After that, I’m sure it is. You do have all your teeth, don’t you?”

Lily smiled, baring her teeth. “Yep, not as impressive as yours is, but fully functional!”

They sat around the dining table, Garrus and Nata passing cartons between them. Lily opened up her own carton and dumped some of the contents on her plate. She had decided to be daring and ordered something that was supposed to be a popular asari dish. She took a bite and found Garrus’s mother watching her.

“How is it?”

“Um, good, of course just about anything is better than what I get on the ship.”

The front door opened and Titus Vakarian walked in. He took the seat beside his wife with a sigh.

“Long day, dear?” Nata asked.

“Yes.” He took helpings from several of the containers near him.

Lily concentrated on the food in front of her, a quick glance to her side and she found Garrus doing the same thing.

“I, uh, find it odd that a human would want to be involved with a turian,” Titus said. His voice revealed nothing about what he was really curious about.

“I’m serving on a turian ship, would get real lonely quickly if I didn’t make some sort of personal connection. Garrus and I have been friends since basic. I don’t think of him as a turian, but just Garrus.”

“Ah, and how do you like being in the turian military?”

“Oh, I, uh, think it’s a great opportunity.”

“And why did you not join the auxiliary branch and be with your own people?”

“They don’t really see much action. I wanted to be on a starship and well, the pay is better.”

“Dad, can you not interrogate Lily while we eat? Did your investigation turn up anything about who set this whole thing up?”

“As I feared, there was too much traffic in and out of that cafe and without any other evidence I can’t get a warrant to see a more detailed record of the activity from those terminals. You two will just have to be careful while on the station.”

“But Dad-”

“I’m not going to argue with you. I will not break the laws I am sworn to uphold for a hunch you have.”

Garrus glared at his meal but held in what he wanted to say.

***

Renata curled on one side, a hand idly stroking her husband’s cheek as they lay in bed.

“That was very mean, dear, making Garrus sleep on the sofa. He’s far too big for it now.”

Titus snorted. “Really? How long do you think he’ll stay there?”

Nata laughed. “Oh, an hour tops.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m rather surprised you brought the girl back here.”

Titus sighed. “Garrus brought up a very good point, so I couldn’t very well leave her alone. Someone went to a lot of trouble to try to break them up at least for a little while. If something had happened to her, well, Garrus wouldn’t have been the only one mad at me.”

“I would have thought you would be trying harder to break them up.”

Titus snorted. “He’s too much like his mother - stubborn. All that would do is push him more into her arms. No, better to just let his little rebellious romance run its course.”

“Ha! Me? You’re the stubborn one!”

“I’m not stubborn, I’m tenacious.”

“Right,” she laughed, “well, then I’m determined!”

His laughter joined hers. “I remember my first girlfriend was an asari; did it just to annoy my father.”

Nata pushed herself closer to him. “Really and you never confessed before now.”

“It was the past; you are the present and the future,” he replied with a smile.

“You always know what to say,” she sighed. “I guess he does come by it naturally, seeing as I had to try an asari on my first shore leave on the Citadel.”

“Why am I not surprised? Although, you never mentioned it before.”

Nata shrugged. “I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was just for fun.”

“Now I know where his wild streak comes from,” he said with a grin.

She grinned back at him. “You know, Lily’s not what I expected. I find I rather like her.”

“I’ve always said that being in the turian military would be good for humans.”

***

Garrus moved as silently as he could down the small hallway. On the one side, he could hear his parents’ voices, though the words were muffled through the door. He quietly slipped into the guest bedroom across from their room. Lily looked up at his entrance, surprise on her face. She was sprawled across the bed with a datapad in her hands. 

“I didn’t think you were serious!”

He chuckled even as he began stripping out of his clothes. “You honestly don’t think I’m going to spend my shore leave sleeping on a too small, lumpy, old sofa, do you?”

“I tried to get your father to let me take it.”

“You’re the guest, besides, this is where I want us to be anyway.”

She rolled to one side, giving him room to join her. His hands tugged on her shirt until she lifted her arms, allowing him to remove it. His hands moved to the waistband of her shorts when her voice interrupted him.

“You know, your dad might be right.”

Garrus groaned and his hands fell away. “I really don’t want to talk about anything my dad has ever said right now.”

“Sending an anonymous tip to C-Sec, to your dad - that just seems too calculated, to cool to be Nalril.”

“I never said he was wrong,” he said. He nuzzled along the side of her neck, trying to distract her.

“Oh, I thought you disagreed with him.”

He let out a sigh. “No, I just think he should check him as well. It’s possible someone else did it, or maybe he got smarter, or he’s part of a larger problem. Whichever one it is, I’m sticking close to you while we are on leave.”

“Now that is a plan I can get behind,” she said. 

One hand reached up to guide his head down towards hers. Their lips met in a gentle caress, barely touching, just a teasing of flesh between them. His free arm he used to pull her closer to him and then his hand began its slow exploration of her body. His fingers stroked her soft flesh until her breath began to hitch. He pulled back from her for a moment. 

“Think you can keep quiet?” he asked with a soft chuckle.

“You have me mistaken for you, oh noisy one.”

“A wager then?” he asked. He leaned down and slowly dragged just the edge of his teeth along her neck until he drew out a moan from her.

“You are so on. Winner gets one favor.”

“Agreed.”

“Well, as it was my ability to be discrete that was called into question, I believe I should get to go first,” she said, pushing his shoulders until he was prone under her.

“Be my guest,” he said with a rumbling laugh.

She stood up and stripped off the shorts she had put on for bed. She watched him with a grin on her face as she slowly lowered herself until she straddled him. His eyes followed her descent down to his body. Once there, she scooted back until she was right on top of his pubic plates. Her fingers danced down along his body, following the seams between his plates, causing his every breath to shudder in anticipation. When she reached his waist, the soft, slow strokes of her fingers had him humming in delight. 

Giving him a grin, she dropped her head, her tongue following the path her fingers had just finished taking. His fists clenched in the fabric of the bed as he tried to stay silent, even as he reveled in the feel of her mouth on his body.

“Spirits,” he gasped out. “This was either the best idea I’ve ever had or the worst.”

She looked up from where her mouth rested against his waist. “Probably a little of both,” she said with a soft laugh. “Ready to concede defeat yet?”

“Yes. No. I mean...no, do your worst!” he ground out, his breath catching in his chest.

And then she began nibbling her way along his waist and over to his pubic plates. A small whimper escaped him at this newest delightful torture from her. He willed himself to stay closed even as her tongue began its assault on him. However, his body had a mind of its own and it didn’t take long for her to coax him to open up to her. A needy whine was the only sound he was capable of when her hot mouth engulfed him. 

“So not fair,” he panted.

A drag of her tongue along the underside of him had his hips twitching upward, chasing her mouth. He nearly cried out when her mouth released him and her lips fell away from him. With a low growl, he grabbed hold of her and rolled them such that he was now on top of her. She looked up at him with an amused grin.

“I concede before I start yelling ‘you’re driving me crazy woman’ at the top of my lungs. You are an evil, evil woman,” he nuzzled into the side of her neck, “and I like it.”

He rested his forehead against hers, their eyes locked on each other. 

She smiled at him. “Good, now I believe we were rudely interrupted earlier today.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And a great big thank you to the readers, I'm delighted you are enjoying this!


	19. Chapter 19

The morning had consisted of leftovers, numerous games and awkward silences. The afternoon looked to be full of the same, well, maybe a new carton of take-out for her at least. They were definitely safer, well, from most things. Embarrassment hadn’t killed her yet, but boredom looked like it might. Lily sighed, and an answering one came from Garrus next to her where he sat on the sofa. Some vid his mom had picked out was playing on the screen. Then it dawned on her: Roka! Maybe they could talk him into being their third so they could do something fun out from under the watchful eyes of his parents.

“Mrs. Vakarian, if we got a friend from the ship to go out with us, would that be okay?”

Garrus sat up and turned to his mom. “Yeah, we wouldn’t be alone then.”

Although it wasn’t exactly what her husband had meant, but she could understand them wishing to get away from parental supervision for a little while.

“I guess that would be alright, but you have to let me know where you are at all times. Just send me a message so if anything happens we know where to start looking.”

Garrus grinned. “Roka?”

“Yeah, let me send him a message. You should send him one, too. Beg if you have to.”

***

Ceryx Roka strolled along the market, killing time. The vid he was going to see wasn’t going to start for another hour, so meandering around the shops was a good way to spend time. The beeping of his omni-tool startled him out of his browsing. _‘Two messages? I wonder who.’_ He opened it up to reveal nearly identical messages, from both Lily and Garrus, begging him to join them so they could escape from his parents. Ceryx laughed aloud, drawing looks from nearby shoppers. What in hell had happened that they were spending their shore leave with his parents? He sent replies agreeing to meet up with them, just to hear _that_ whole story. Seconds later, a new message came in requesting he meet them at his parents’ place. He was still laughing as he headed for a cab station.

***

The melodious tinkling of a chime announced the arrival of someone at the door. Garrus bolted from the sofa, but his mother stopped him with a hand. 

“I’ll get it. I want to meet this friend of yours.”

Ceryx was taken aback when a woman answered the door. But then he noticed she wore the same colony markings as Garrus and her eyes were nearly identical to his.

“Ma’am, I’m Ceryx Roka. Garrus and Lily sent me a message to meet them here.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Renata Vakarian. Yes, they are here. Garrus and Lily, remember what I said.”

“We are heading to the nearest vid multiplex to catch a show right now. But we will let you know where we go, Mom. I promise,” Garrus said even as he herded the others out the door.

As soon as the door shut, Garrus and Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Ceryx let out another laugh while shaking his head.

“You should see yourselves. You look like you just escaped from a prison warden.”

“Close enough to the truth to be scary,” Garrus muttered.

“So what in the name of all the Spirits of Palaven happened that caused you two to stay with your parents while on shore leave?”

“We had barely made it to our hotel room when C-Sec, led by his dad, showed up at our door.”

“Someone sent my dad an anonymous tip saying I was doing something illegal. So my dad and some other officers showed up and searched the room. Finding nothing, my dad then insisted that I come back to his place, thinking that someone was after me. We argued and I persuaded him that it was probably Lily that they were after and that they were trying to get me out of the way. So now we can’t go anywhere on our own, for our own safety,” Garrus growled.

“Nalril?”

“Best guess, but whoever it was didn’t leave enough clues for my dad to be able to pull him in.”

“Okay, it was funny at first when I thought it was just overzealous parents, but now that I heard the whole story...well, damn. Let’s go catch the vid and if I remember right you did promise to buy, Vakarian.”

“I’d promise just about anything to escape my parents at this moment.”

Ceryx chuckled, “I’m sure.”

***

The three of them exited the theater still laughing about the vid they had just watched. Garrus quickly sent a brief message to his mother detailing their next stop. To the casual observer they appeared carefree, but very little escaped their notice. The paths they chose were carefully picked, avoiding any areas where someone might be able to lay in wait for them. 

The bar Ceryx led them to was small, but even this early in the day there were several people already occupying tables. The music was a little more subdued than the usual dance clubs, which was nice, and he swore to them that they served food as well.

“You sure they have something I can eat here?” Lily asked.

“Yep, it serves everyone. It’s not very well known and the food is pretty good, and reasonable.”

They settled at a table. As Lily gazed around the place she noticed that most of the patrons did in fact have food in front of them. A human woman sat at a small table by herself and she had what looked like a hamburger in front of her. When she put what looked like a french fry in her mouth, Lily nearly wept with joy.

“OH. MY. GOD. I think she has a burger. I would kill for one of those.”

Garrus grinned. “I guess we better go; nothing for her here.”

Lily cast a baleful eye at him. Ceryx snorted.

“Maybe you’re feeling suicidal, but I’m not.”

Ceryx turned to see what exactly a burger looked like and noticed it was a human female that was eating the item in question. Her long black hair curled around her face, causing her to brush it back, trying to keep it out of her food. Although the place was poorly lit, he could see her well enough to tell that her skin was darker than Lily’s but lighter than his own plates. He turned back around with a wistful sigh. Lily, however, noted his interest. 

The menu had a small section with human specialties listed, including burgers. As soon as they had ordered, Lily’s mouth curved up in a sly smile. Garrus grinned at her expression.

“Looking forward to human food?”

“Yes, and I’ve got an idea.”

Ceryx and Garrus watched as she sauntered over to where the lone human woman ate her meal. Ceryx covered his face with one hand as he groaned. Garrus chuckled and nudged the other turian.

“I’d watch if I were you. I have a feeling she is trying to find you a dinner companion.”

Ceryx groaned again. “I don’t see this going well at all.”

Lily approached the woman with a smile on her face. The woman looked up in surprise at her arrival.

“Hi! I’m Lily, and I just about cried with joy when I saw your burger.”

The woman relaxed a bit and laughed. “I know what you mean. It’s not exactly right, but close enough.”

“After ship food, anything is an improvement.”

“Oh, you work on a freighter?”

“No, I’m serving in the turian military. I’m on a cruiser.”

“OH! I didn’t think many humans did that.”

“No, not many of us get selected for it. Why don’t you grab your food and join me and my friends?”

“I, uh, I don’t know.”

“See that one that looks like a delectable piece of chocolate? He was admiring you.”

“Oh, uh, really? I usually try and stay away from soldiers.”

“Ah, you are in luck then. He’s an engineer on our ship. He makes sure the ship stays flying. He’s a friend and a great guy. The grey one? That’s my boyfriend.”

“You and a turian? Really? I didn’t think that was looked on favorably.”

Lily shrugged her shoulders. “We were friends in basic and it just happened. Come on and join us. Nobody should eat alone.” She gave the woman her best smile.

“Company would be nice. I’m Isabella Davis, but everyone calls me Izzy.” 

“Lily Shepard.”

Izzy smiled and picked up her plate and bag. Lily grabbed her drink and silverware and the pair headed back to the table. 

Ceryx nearly fell off his chair when he saw the two women heading back towards them. Garrus moved to a different chair so that the newcomer could sit between Lily and Ceryx.

“Izzy, this is Ceryx Roka and that one there is Garrus Vakarian. Gentlemen, this is Isabella Davis, but she goes by Izzy.”

Izzy gingerly placed her plate down between Lily and the one she called Ceryx. At least he seemed a little smaller than the one she said was her boyfriend. They were so big and scary looking up close, what in hell had she been thinking? That sitting with another human would be lovely and that she really needed more exposure to more species for her job. 

Ceryx leaned towards her, his mandibles flared wide, which she had been assured was really a friendly look. “So, uh, how long have you been on the Citadel?”

She returned his smile. She hadn’t meant to, but his voice was simply lovely. A deep, rich timbre that made her think of all the most delightful things smashed together.

“I came here about six months ago looking for a new start. I work at a shop just down the way. It was supposed to be my day off, but I got called in to cover for someone this morning.”

“Oh, how long before your break is over?” Ceryx asked, disappointment coloring his tone. 

“I’m off the rest of the day, just had to cover for someone this morning.”

“How lucky! We are on shore leave through tomorrow. You should come have fun with us,” Lily added. Before Izzy turned her way, Lily motioned an encouraging hand sign to Ceryx.

“Yes, please. We would love to have you along,” Ceryx said.

“I’m not much for the bar scene. I only come here because they have the best burger on the Citadel, well, that I’ve found so far.”

“We could catch a vid,” Garrus said. “You don’t want poor Ceryx to be the odd man out, do you?”

“It could be my treat for having mercy on me.”

“Oh, well, a vid sounds like fun. Thank you,” Izzy answered, a little flustered at their enthusiasm.

Izzy resumed eating her meal once the rest of the food arrived. She cast furtive glances over at Ceryx. She never had the chance to study a turian up close before. She wasn’t sure what to make of him. Behind her back, Lily made more hand signals to Ceryx, but he just cocked his head in confusion. 

Taking a deep breath, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Um, so what do you do, you know, at that shop?”

“I’m an inventory specialist. I manage the inventory and make sure we have just enough stock on hand. Lily mentioned that you were an engineer?”

“Yes, one of three assigned to the _Intrepid_.”

“Oh, you work with the engines and mass effect fields and all those things?”

“Actually, I’m the newest member of the engineers, so right now I’m more of a glorified electrician, since I’m in charge of the electrical systems.”

“Which the ship wouldn’t get very far without it running right,” Lily added.

“Oh, you must be very smart.”

“Well, in some things. Don’t ask me any xenobiology questions; I’d just give you a blank look.”

Izzy laughed, “I think everyone has some field that confuses them.”

Ceryx leaned closer. “So what is your weakness?” he asked, his voice low, forcing her to lean towards him to hear him.

“Astrophysics. My brain had regular meltdowns the entire year I had to take it,” Izzy said with a nervous little laugh.

_‘No wonder Lily had hooked up with a turian, their voices...dear lord, those voices should be outlawed. And top of that he was smart too, although it was too bad that he was shipping out tomorrow’_ , she thought sadly.

And all too soon the food was gone. Izzy could hardly believe that Lily had put away everything on her plate and even ate the cold fries off her plate as well.

“So Izzy, I don’t suppose you know of any place like a bakery?” Lily asked.

“You can’t possibly be hungry still?” Garrus asked.

He even had the nerve to poke Lily in the stomach, to which she just growled at him.

“I’m stocking up before I have to live off of ship rations again.”

“Nothing that specializes in human pastries, but there is one that has asari baked goods and they are quite good,” Izzy said.

“Oh, you have to take us!”

A not so gentle push from Lily had Ceryx nearly tripping over his own feet, but Izzy grabbed his arm and stopped his forward momentum. This was how he ended up walking next to Izzy on the way to the shop.

“Thanks, I must have tripped over something.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.”

He threw a baleful look over his shoulder at Lily, but she only gave him an innocent look and once more waved encouraging gestures with her hands.

“So are you from Earth?”

“No, one of the colonies, but ever since I saw pictures of the Citadel I have wanted to come here.”

“I know what you mean, this is an amazing place. The sheer magnitude of engineering that went into making it, well, it’s just amazing. Ah, and I’ll stop rambling about it now.”

“No, I enjoy hearing about it. I find it fascinating,” Izzy said, gazing up at him.

“Oh, ah, I have lots of trivia about it, I did a research project on it,” he said with a smile.

Lily polished her knuckles against her shirt and then made a hash mark in the air with one finger behind the couple’s back. Garrus slung one arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close so he could whisper ‘show off’ to her.

***  
Nalril staked out the hotel, but Vakarian and the human never returned. He had briefly considered hanging around C-Sec headquarters to wait for the elder Vakarian to leave work, so he could follow him to his home. Then if the couple was staying with him, he could then stalk them, hoping to find some way of separating them, but common sense said that was too risky of a maneuver. The odds of finding them wandering around the Citadel just randomly were extremely low. Nothing more to do but head back towards the section of Tayseri ward fondly called ‘Little Palaven’ and his room there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, it’s not Friday, but since I’m flying out tomorrow morning, I figured I would post this today! So yes, there will not be an update the week of August 12th as I will be on vacation. I hope to restart the updates on the week of August 19th, but no guarantees!.
> 
> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And one to the readers for their continued support!


	20. Chapter 20

Izzy threw another look at Ceryx as he kept pace alongside her. In the dark of the theater she had just concentrated on his voice and not what he looked like. However, out in the markets of the Citadel the huge differences between them were easily noted. As a human, she was still one of the minority species on the station, whereas he was from one of the majority. But he had been nothing but charming to her. Polite, funny and even a little shy at times; if he had been human she would have thought that he was too good to be true. And she could think of no good reason why he would seem to be interested in her. All of it was enough to make her head spin.

“So, uh, how long have you served in the military?”

Ceryx glanced over at Izzy, glad that she had found something to ask. He had begun feeling as if it was up to him to keep the words flowing between them.

“I’ve been active duty for three years now.”

“Oh, that makes you what, eighteen?” _‘God, he is so young,’_ she thought. He certainly didn’t look it, and now she felt positively ancient at twenty-two. 

He shook his head with a laugh. “No, I’m twenty-three. I spent a year in basic and then spent four in a top engineering school before becoming active duty.”

“That must have been very expensive - your training, I mean.” 

“If you agree to serve your fifteen years of civil service in the turian military they will train you for whatever you have the aptitude for.”

“Oh. I guess I should have paid more attention during the recruitment announcements. Although, I don’t think I would have done well in the turian military.”

“Most humans that choose to join go into the human only auxiliary units,” Lily said.

“Why didn’t you do that then?” Izzy asked, turning around to look at Lily.

“I wanted the better pay of serving with the turian units. Plus they are the ones that serve on the ships. Most auxiliary units are stationed on colonies and stations.”

“Weren’t you scared to serve with them? I mean, they are so much bigger than us. No offense intended,” she said gazing at the two turians with them.

Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, some of them are assholes, but our squad leader taught me moves to counter most species we might encounter, including turians.”

“Oh, is she a human?”

“Nope, turian. Not that you’ll ever need to use this on Ceryx, but if a turian should ever give you a hard time and you feel that you are in danger, reach up, grab a mandible, and twist it as hard as you can.”

“Really?” 

Izzy saw both of them wince a little at Lily’s words.

"She’s right. It’s a taboo thing amongst us, so we typically don’t use it against each other,” Ceryx said.

“What about a krogan?”

“Have a big ass gun or run like hell,” Lily said with a laugh.

Izzy shook her head as she joined in their laughter. She had enjoyed spending the afternoon with them, and was a little sad that it was ending now.

“I suppose I should say good-bye,” Izzy began.

“Oh no! The day is young still. I’m sure we can find something else to do,” Lily declared. 

Garrus and Ceryx nodded their heads at Lily’s words.

“I have to work early tomorrow and there are still some things I need to take care of before work. I did enjoy today a great deal. I can give you my contact information, you know, in case you need a fourth the next time you’re on the station.”

“We’d love to have you along,” Ceryx said, stepping towards Izzy while pulling up his omni-tool. 

They exchanged information before Izzy went her way. Ceryx watched her walk away, a small sigh escaping him. The other two came to stand next to him.

“So, who are the best damn wingmen on the station?” Lily asked.

Ceryx turned to look at her, one talon scratching at his brow plate. “Well, I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Human slang - wingmen are buddies who help a friend make a connection with someone they are interested in.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighed. “It did work out better than I expected.”

“And you even got her contact information,” Lily said. She nudged Ceryx in the side and winked at him.

“She’s going to be boasting about this for days now,” Garrus said, shaking his head.

“Ugh, and I have to work with her. Come on. I’ll walk you both back to your parents’.”

“Can we stop by a takeout stand along the way?”

Garrus laughed. “Are you a bottomless pit or what?”

“Stocking up, I tell you! You’d be doing the same if your ship meals all looked like something scraped off your boot. Besides it’s hungry work, you know, steering two people together. She did seem to be warming up nicely to you though.”

“You think so?” Ceryx asked, careful to tamp down on his sub-tones.

“Definitely, after all, you were very charming.”

Lily smiled at the thought of how much fun it would be to spend time with another human along with her two favorite turians.

“She seemed a little uncomfortable at first,” Garrus said.

“If she never interacted with the turians on her colony, that’s hardly a surprise. I think everything went quite well and it was fun having another human around. Too bad she has to work tomorrow, otherwise we could have done something before we have to report back to the ship.”

“Well, I doubt we’ll see her again, but I still enjoyed today.”

Garrus laid his hand on Ceryx’s shoulder. “See, now you just gave Lily a challenge.”

He groaned. “Please, I don’t think I’m quite that hopeless.”

“Of course not! I’m just trying to help.”

“Which you did. Now let me do things my way.”

“Fine, fine. But if you need anything, I’m here to help.”

***

Ceryx reclined in his bunk, a datapad in his hand. The device was open to a manual he had been meaning to read over, but so far, nothing had sunk in. His thoughts kept drifting back to the day’s events. He could tell Izzy had been nervous around him at first, but seeing Lily interact with both him and Garrus had relaxed her. It even seemed like she saw him less as a turian and just someone whose company she had enjoyed. She had laughed at their jokes more and more, and every now and then, he caught her watching him and even smiling at him. She’d probably never meet up with them again, but at least he had today to hold to. 

Izzy hung up the last of her clothes she had just finished cleaning. Now that she had finished her chores, she wished she had stayed out longer with her new friends. Her roommate was out and the quiet that was usually relaxing was now lonely. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Ceryx and how much fun it had been to be with them today. 

If someone back home had told her she would be giving out her contact information to a turian, she would have laughed at them. But that was exactly what she had done, and she didn’t regret it. _‘Maybe I could call in sick - no, I don’t dare risk my job. My lunch break! Maybe he has time for that before they ship out.’_

She quickly typed a message up on her omni-tool, but her finger hovered over the send button. _‘Do it! If he was human you would never have left his side,’_ she chided herself. Taking a deep breath, she sent the note out.

Ceryx nearly jumped when his tool pinged. Surely, Garrus and Lily were done for the evening. He opened his message and his mandibles spread wide in a grin.

_‘Ceryx, I hope you aren’t asleep yet, but I was wondering what time you ship out tomorrow?’ - I._

_‘Nope, still awake. Trying to force myself to read this really boring manual - no luck so far! We have to report back to the ship at fourteen hundred hours.’ - C._

_‘Oh, what’s that in Citadel time?’ - I._

_‘Two, station time.’ - C._

_‘I don’t suppose you would like to meet me at this little cafe near the shop for my lunch break tomorrow?’ - I._

Ceryx laughed. Would he? Now that was a silly question.

_‘I would love to. Give me the time and place and I’ll be there.’ - C._

The next message contained the details and he saved it to a separate file. 

_‘Got it. Did you finish all your chores?’ - C._

_‘Yep, nothing more mindless than laundry, but it had to be done. I don’t suppose you would like to chat for a little while?’ - I._

_‘That would be nice. More fun than what I was doing.’ - C._

_‘So what was it you were trying to read?’ - I._

_‘Proper calibration of engines to optimize mass effect fields.’ - C._

_‘Whoosh!’ - I._

_‘Whoosh?’ - C._

_‘That went so far over my head I think it just went through the relay!’ - I._

Ceryx laughed and settled back against his pillows, the datapad forgotten beside him.

***  
Nalril sat hunched over at his favorite bar. In front of him was his beer of choice. Neither of those things did anything to help his mood. One talon idly scratched out the picture on the bottle. He barely registered when another body slid onto the stool next to him.

“You don’t look like you are enjoying your shore leave,” Dasov said. 

He waved the bartender over and ordered his own drink.

“It was perfect, but his father didn’t react like a normal turian would!”

“What happened?” 

Dasov took a swig of his beer while he waited for Nalril to answer. Nalril dropped his head into his hands.

“He took them _both_! And it’s not like I can follow him home to find out where they are now!”

“That’s a damn shame. It was a brilliant plan. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that his father is just as twisted as his son. Children learn those sorts of things from their parents after all.”

“And tomorrow we are back on the ship,” Nalril grumbled into his hands.

Dasov clapped him on the back. “There will be other opportunities, I’m sure. Forget them and let’s go have some fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I’m back! Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And one to the readers for their continued support! 
> 
> Updates might be a little more sporadic as I deal with some things in life that intefere with my writing time. Don’t worry, this story won’t be abandoned, it just might take me longer to finish it is all!


	21. Chapter 21

Lily cracked one eye open and found that the spot that had been occupied earlier in the morning was now empty. She expected nothing less than that vacant spot. A brush of her hand confirmed it was now cool and a glance at the clock revealed that Garrus’s dad should be off to work by now. It was early, but she was rather used to an early start from her new life in the military. Throwing on the clothes she would normally sleep in, she headed out into the living room.

Still buried under a blanket, Garrus slept all scrunched up on the sofa. Of course, he hadn’t spent _all_ night there. A good chunk of the night had been with her in the guest bed. It was some of the best sleep she had had in a long time. Stepping lightly, she approached the sofa. She leaned over the sleeping turian. One hand slowly dipped towards him, fingers twitching as she reached for his blanket. She had just grasped the edge of the blanket when his eyes shot open. Snagging her hand with his, he pulled her down on top of him.

“Trying to steal my blanket? I’m afraid you will have to be punished,” Garrus said, his voice husky from sleep.

Lily wiggled around until she was able to get under the blanket with him.

“If this is the ‘punishment’ that is supposed to deter me, I don’t think you are doing it right.”

She let out a soft laugh before applying her hands to his torso and pushed his shirt up and out of her way. Her fingers traced the edges of his plates until she reached his more sensitive waist. A soft, encouraging sound resonated in his chest. A gasp left her when she felt his hand force its way into her shorts, the pad of one fingertip seeking her heat. She arched into his touch with a soft moan, warring with the need to be quiet versus letting him know just how right that was.

“ _That_ is definitely not a deterrent,” she said in a breathy voice.

“What about if I threatened to stop?” he asked with a low chuckle.

She leaned down and touched their foreheads together, looking into his eyes.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“You got me there. I like watching you while I pleasure you too much to stop.”

She smiled and pressed her mouth against his. His plates felt like warm leather, but they were slightly rough on her lips, not that she minded. His breath was hot against her mouth while she tasted him, bringing a groan from him.

“Think we got enough time before your mom gets up?” she whispered against his mouth.

“Not if we stay out here.”

“Back to my room?”

“No, that door doesn’t lock, but I have an idea.”

He rolled them off the sofa, landing nimbly on his feet. Without pausing, he scooped her up, while the blanket fell to their feet, and headed for the bathroom. It was large and had a lock on it, the basic things he needed to finish what they had started. He deposited Lily on the counter and quickly locked the door behind them. His shirt was the first thing off and he nearly fell while trying to get his sleeping shorts off, catching himself against the door with a bang. 

“Shh,” Lily said with a giggle. “We are trying not to wake your mother up.”

“Well, some of us have spurs that catch on everything,” he growled back.

He finally managed to get the offending piece of clothing off and turned back to find that Lily had already finished stripping, her clothes strewn on the floor. Just where he liked them best.

He cocked his head and asked, “Shower or counter?”

“Shower, definitely, gives us a better reason to be in here, together. You know, saving water.”

He nodded and turned on the spray, putting it at a temperature that they both could live with. The water felt good as he stepped under the spray while he held out a hand to Lily. She took it and he pulled her under the water with him. She wound her arms around his neck when he lifted her up before pressing her against the back wall of the stall. 

“Good thing we’ve had lots of practice with this routine,” he murmured against the skin of her neck.

“Practice makes perfect, they say.”

He made a noncommittal noise. “True, never enough.”

His teeth just barely touched her skin, his tongue tasting her. The water sluiced off his back, his larger frame blocking the spray from hitting Lily. The water cascading down around them masked most of the noises that Lily was making. She shimmied about until she was able to sink down upon him with a sigh, bringing a low groan from him. Their foreheads pressed together, he moved languidly, going ever so slightly deeper before retreating. He intended to savor this last moment of relative solitude that they had here; there would be time enough for hurried moments when they had to return to the ship. She gripped his hips, trying to encourage him to increase his pace. His answer was to nip lightly down her shoulder.

“Slowly,” he murmured.

“You’re driving me crazy,” she growled.

“I know.”

She felt his mandibles widen into a smile against her skin. He had all the control in this position and he knew it. Her hands ghosted across his body, seeking those spots she knew were his weakness. Her fingertips danced along his more sensitive skin in between his plates, earning her a low growl at least. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy the slower pace, she just wasn’t sure what his mother would say if she saw them leaving the bathroom together. Since his hands were occupied keeping them both upright, he couldn’t retaliate with his own teasing. That thought left her in a rush when he turned his rather talented mouth on her. The gentle drag of his teeth along that part of her neck he knew she liked best caused her breath to hitch and come a little faster. Combined with the pleasure from his steady thrusts brought her to completion far faster than she thought he should have been able to. He held her steady until the tremors subsided, his breath warm against her neck as he waited. When he resumed his movements, they were at the same slow constant pace of before, as if they had all the time in the world and right now there was only the two of them. It became apparent that he had been waiting for her before letting his own pleasure overtake him, because it wasn’t long before she felt his hips jerking against hers. 

Together they managed to disentangle themselves and still stay upright. Lily reached up and cupped his face, pulling him down for a kiss.

“Mmm, what was that for?”

“Just because,” Lily replied, afraid to say more than that about how much he meant to her. 

He returned the gesture, hoping she could tell some of his feelings for her from it. This was the hardest part; the things that could be easily conveyed by sub-harmonics was lost on her and he had to learn ways to show them as humans would. He knew his father considered his relationship with Lily as only ‘temporary’, but he honestly couldn’t imagine anyone else he would rather be with.

The rest of their shower was made up of soap and lingering touches as they took what little time they had alone for themselves. They left the shower to find the living room still empty. Lily ducked into the guest room and quickly put on fresh clothes even as she packed her things back into her bag. She returned to find that Garrus had done the same, his pack waiting by the door.

They settled on the couch once more, her with her leftovers from last night and him with something he had plucked from the cooling unit. Something mindless on the vid screen added noise while they waited to return to the ship.

***

Ceryx tapped his talon on the table as he waited for Izzy to show up. A glare from a nearby salarian trying to read something on his datapad forced him to still the offending digit. He gave him an apologetic smile and placed his hands in his lap. At last check, he still had ten minutes before Izzy’s break. He forced himself to pull a datapad out and attempt to read something - anything - on it. He scrolled through the list until he found the manual he had meant to go over last night. The words blurred in front of his eyes while his mind raced to find things they could talk about when she finally made it to the cafe. _‘Can’t talk about work. I don’t want to make her feel stupid. Ask her about living on the Citadel maybe? At least I’ve had some experience with humans now, especially of the female variety.’_

“I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

He looked up to find Izzy standing at the table. He shot to his feet, his chair banging into the grumpy salarian next to him. He murmured a ‘sorry’ before turning back to his companion. He waved at the seat across from him and she slid into it. 

“No, not at all. I got here a little early to make sure we could get a table. I was trying to read that manual again, but sadly I found myself distracted.”

Izzy laughed. “Watching all the pretty ladies go by?”

He shook his head with a grin. “Waiting for one specific one to join me.”

“Oh,” she said, a little flustered.

“Thank you for meeting me for lunch.”

“Thank you for inviting me to lunch.”

Their statements were said at the same time, drawing out laughs from both of them. Their waiter appeared at the table and they turned to the menus for a moment before ordering the first thing they could find. Once the salarian had disappeared, they turned back to each other.

“So, how do you like it on the Citadel so far?”

“I love it. It’s all so new and strange, but exciting. My roommate is an asari, but I don’t see her much because she works in a club.”

“Oh, that must be fun.”

Izzy shook her head. “No, mostly it means the place is quiet. She’s at work when I’m off and vice-versa. But after spending the day with you and your friends, I realized I had missed having people to talk and laugh with.”

“Well, the next time I’m on leave on the station, I would be delighted to spend more time with you. Even a group date with Lily and Garrus, if that would make you more comfortable.”

Izzy smiled at him. “I’d like that, too. Can you send messages from the ship?”

“When we pass a comm buoy - of course personal messages are at the bottom of the tier, so it might take you a while to get it.”

“Oh! Maybe we could, you know, write to each other so we can get to know each other better. Makes for less awkward silences the next time we meet.”

“I’d like that. I had hoped we could keep in touch,” Ceryx said, his sub-tones thrumming with hope.

The waiter interrupted them, placing their dishes in front of them, and just as quickly as he came, he departed.

“Wow, they are fast here,” Ceryx said, taking a forkful of his meal.

“It’s great; the only place around here I can get a decent meal while on my break. So, do you have any family?” Izzy asked before taking a bite of her pasta.

The meal and time went quickly as they learned about each other’s family. She had an older brother who worked on a freighter. Ceryx told her about his own siblings. A quiet beep let Izzy know that her time was almost up.

“Crap. I’ve got to pay and head back to the shop. I really enjoyed lunch with you.”

“Please, let me take care of the bill and I’ll walk you back to your shop. I mean, if that is okay?” he asked, his words rushed.

“Oh, that’s very sweet. Thank you.”

Once he had taken care of that, Izzy led him down a short distance towards a building emblazoned with the symbol and name of Elkoss Combine. A harried looking asari stood outside the door.

“Daeria, what’s going on?” Izzy asked.

Daeria threw her hands up in disgust. “The damn power is out, again, and the electrician won’t be here until this afternoon, and we still have that audit to do.”

Ceryx moved up to address the asari. She gave him a wary look.

“Ma’am, I’m an engineer. I could take a look if you would like.”

“An engineer? Who do you work for?” she asked, her head tilted to watch him better.

“I’m assigned to the turian warship _Intrepid_ , so I guess that would be the Hierarchy I work for.”

“Oh. That would be great. If you work on a warship this shouldn’t be any problem at all for you.”

Using her omni-tool as a light source, she led them into a back room. She finally stopped at a large panel.

“This is the source of our problems,” she said, waving the light at the panel door.

“Right. You got any tools on hand I can use?”

Daeria found the bin and plopped it down at the turian’s feet. Ceryx rummaged around until he found what he might need, and pulled them out and laid them in a neat row. He had the door off in just a few moments and used his own omni-tool to illuminate inside. After that neither Daeria nor Izzy could keep up with what he was doing. 

Thirty minutes later, he finally pulled his head out from behind the panel and hit the power switch, and the lights overhead came on. The sudden bright light caused all three of them to blink.

“There you go, ladies. You had some wires that had come loose and a few that were not where they should be.”

“By the Goddess, thank you! Let me call and cancel that other guy.”

Daeria hurried out of the room. Izzy grasped one of Ceryx’s much larger hands in her smaller ones.

“Thank you. I feel bad you just did all that work for free.”

“It was my pleasure. Well, I did get to have lunch with a lovely woman.”

Izzy smiled up at him. He found he would have happily spent the rest of his leave working on her work’s systems simply to get more time near her.

“I suppose I should let you get to work,” he said, his words soft.

He didn’t want to remove his hand from hers, just enjoying the warmth of another’s touch. Izzy stood on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss on the side of one cheek. His mandibles went slack in surprise before a grin crossed his face.

“You know, I’d happily work on anything else you might need done, you know, for another kiss.”

Izzy gave a delighted laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind when you come back. Thank you again. I really enjoyed today, even watching you work.”

“So did I. I’ll be sending you lots of messages whenever I get the chance.”

They walked to the door and Izzy waved as he continued on making his way to where the _Intrepid_ was docked. Daeria joined her and watched the human watch the turian walk away. 

“He’s quite nice; if you tire of him send him my way.”

Izzy turned to her boss. “Oh, uh, I’ll keep that in mind.”

***

Lunch had been filled with his mother’s talk of various relatives and what they were up to. She had even insisted on walking them all the way to the docking bay where the Intrepid waited. They were nearly to the gangplank when a hand on his arm stopped Garrus.

“Lily, would you mind going on ahead so I can talk to my son for a moment?”

Lily nodded. “Of course ma’am. I wanted to say thank you again for allowing me to stay in your home and please tell your husband the same thing for me.”

“Of course, it was nice meeting you.”

Lily strode off and into the ship, leaving Garrus standing with his mother.

“Garrus dear.”

“Mom, did Dad put you up to this?”

“He might have mentioned something.”

Garrus crossed his arms in front of his body, one hip jutted out, the very picture of an annoyed young turian.

Renata sighed. Garrus was as stubborn as both of his parents were, but generally, the two of them got along better than he did with his father.

“Your relationship with the girl is new and fresh and exciting, but he believes in time you will grow bored of someone so different from yourself. As for me, I’ll let you figure out what you want and what you need. However, if you are serious about the girl, think about what life as a Spectre candidate, and then an actual Spectre, will be like. You will be gone for months at a time and if she stays in the military, the two of you will see each other very little. You need to think hard about the life you want and where you want to be. I support you if you want to take the training, even though I know your father does not. But you have to be serious about it, it would be a hard life and you have to be prepared for that. That’s not exactly what your father wanted me to say to you, but you are an adult and you need to make this decision for yourself. I will support you in whatever you choose.”

“Oh, ah, thanks, Mom. That means a lot to me. I’ll think about what you said.”

Garrus pressed his forehead to his mother’s. “I love you, Mom. Take care of yourself.”

“I will. You be careful out there.”

Garrus nodded and gave her a smile as he walked up the plank. Renata watched until he disappeared into the ship itself. No one had ever told her it would be so hard to let go of your children or that they would grow up so fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Mordinette for not only her beta work but some lovely ideas she threw at me, I caught them! And another thank you to the readers and especially CyanB over on FF.net for an idea they gave me, thank you all!


	22. Chapter 22

All of the soldiers aboard the _Intrepid_ stood at attention in the shuttle bay. This was not an inspection. They had been ordered here in full combat gear to await orders. The shuttle pilots, recon, and the soldiers all formed up, each in their own squad. 

Captain Victus strode onto the deck, a few techs just a few steps behind him bringing a holo table into the area. As soon as they had finished setting it up, he called up a map of the outpost they were being sent to investigate.

“Command contacted us when at twelve hundred hours galactic standard time a mining colony, run jointly by both humans and turians, issued a single burst of its distress beacon. The signal went dead shortly afterwards and they have been unable to establish contact since then. We are the closest patrol, so we are tasked with investigating.”

Victus paused to let that information soak in. He touched a part of the display, pulling up close-ups of five side entrances into the main part of the facility.

“I’m dividing you into five teams; each one will have one member of the recon squad to take point, as well as a squad of soldiers. We will use these five entrances to gain access to the complex. We have to assume that hostile forces have taken over the facility and now we need to go in and free it and its workers. Transmitting the information on assignments to your omni-tools.”

His tool lit up as the orders were sent out. Dasov gave the message a brief look before moving forward a step.

“Sir, won’t they see us landing and be ready for us?”

Victus nodded and looked around the area, catching the eyes of his people. “The garrison that was stationed there has to have been neutralized, since that was where the distress beacon was located. This is a combat drop into hostile territory, prepare accordingly. Any further questions?” 

Seeing no new questions, he dismissed them. The groups began to mingle together until five new units were formed and they headed to their assigned shuttles. Well, except one soldier, but he had been waiting for Lt. Velox to approach him.

“Sir? Are you sure it’s a good idea to put Nalril’s squad with Shepard?”

“It has to be done; we have to know if there is going to be any more problems between those two. My soldiers are expected to be a cohesive unit; any that fail to work together are a liability and will be transferred out.”

Velox nodded. “Understood, sir.” 

Velox saluted and headed for her shuttle. On the other side of the bay, Lily climbed aboard her shuttle and nearly groaned aloud when she spotted Nalril coming through the doorway behind her. He didn’t look real happy with this assignment either, but there was no way she could do her job if she was wondering what he was doing. Better to settle this now before they hit the colony. Pushing away from where she was, she walked straight up to him and looked him in the eye. That seemed to confuse him.

“Truce?”

“What?”

“I can’t do my job if I’m waiting for you to shoot me in the back.”

At her words, some of the other members of the squad made some grumbling noises. Nalril hadn’t expected her to be so blunt about their hostilities and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it; but if he didn’t put the mission first some of the other members of the squad might put him down as well.

“I will do nothing to you, on purpose, while we are on this mission,” he stated with a nod of his head. He heard the hums of approval from his fellow soldiers.

“Or accidentally.”

“What?”

“Hell, it would be easy enough to make something look like an accident. Just covering all the bases.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I will do nothing on purpose or try to make something happen to you ‘accidentally’.”

“Thank you. Regardless of what you think of me, I am good at what I do.”

Dasov joined the others inside the rapidly dwindling space of their shuttle to the last thing he expected to see. Nalril and Shepard appeared to have had a civil conversation. He’d have to try later to find out what was said, but for now they had a mission to get through. He pulled up his copy of the layout of the facility on his tool.

“Alright, Team Three, we’ve been assigned the entrance here,” he said, his talon pointing out the spot on the overlay. “Shepard has point and we move when she calls all clear.”

The soldiers nodded before returning to last minute checks. The sudden drop of the shuttle as the ship left the hangar bay caused them to grip the bars a little tighter. What they were heading into was anyone’s guess.

“Approaching the drop zone,” the pilot called out.

The last few holdouts finally put on their helmets while everyone else did a last check of their weapons. The shuttle doors flung open and everyone leaped out. The only sound was what they made when they hit the ground. No gunfire, no explosions, nothing to be heard but the sound of their breathing over the sound of the wind across the surface. Through the haze from the grit being blown about they could see the faint lines of the complex ahead of them. 

“Team Three on the ground, no sign of hostiles,” Dasov said into the comm.

The other units replied with the same information, causing more than one team leader to swear.

“Expect heavy resistance when we reach the building. Stay sharp,” Victus barked out.

Dasov gave the signal to Shepard to move out. The human nodded and began picking her way across the plain with the rest of the soldiers falling in behind her, leaving Dasov to bring up the rear. 

Lily moved cautiously across the ground, looking for anything that was out of place. If the pirates weren’t planning a frontal attack, which was smart on their part, then there were sure to be traps of some sort in their path. She made it to the door, the rest of her team fanning out behind her as she worked on opening it. A female turian joined her at the panel.

“I’m the tech specialist. Let me take a look at it.”

Lily nodded and moved out of her way. Far quicker than she could have done it, the tech had the door open. Lily turned around and waited for the command from Dasov to move forward. The squad got into position around the door.

“Team Three has their door open.”

Similar replies came across the comm from the other teams.

“We go in three...two...one...go!” Victus said.

The tech slapped the panel and the door slid open. The hallway was empty, a few of the lights were out and bloodstains of various colors splattered the floor and walls. A pair of doors across from each other was the only obvious entrance into this hall. One of the doorways had a body slumped over; it appeared to be a human. The squad waited for Lily to make a move.

“I see a rather large pressure plate just past the doors. Making sure there is nothing else closer,” she said. 

Lily took a deep breath and stepped away from the door, her eyes scanning for any other signs of tampering. Finding nothing, she moved to the fallen human. She dropped down to scan underneath the body, making sure it wasn’t resting on a trap. Finding nothing, she gave the signal for all clear. The rest of the squad moved up behind her. One of the turians, male by the size of the crest, dropped beside the human and turned it over. Dasov moved to stand beside him while he worked.

“He reads as one of the colonists,” he told Dasov.

“More in here. Looks like they made a stand against their attackers.”

Further in that room were several turians and humans clustered behind a makeshift barricade. It hadn’t saved them from the heavy gunfire that tore them apart, though. Nalril studied the scene, his brain trying to wrap around the fact that they had all stood together. No humans holed up in one area and turians in another, but all jumbled together.

“Something not right?” Lily asked.

“Nothing - it’s nothing.”

Lily watched him move away. She might not be able to hear their subharmonics, but even she could tell something was bothering him. Instead of worrying about him, she headed to the room across the hall. The door opened into a storage room. Seeing nothing of interest, she closed it once more and turned her attention to the trap in their path. She dropped down and began to scan the area, trying to get a feel for what exactly lay under the plate. She turned when the tech dropped down to join her on the floor.

“I’m Tylial. What does it look like?”

“Shepard. A large package of explosives, unable to get a clear reading on what kind. Looks like multiple trigger points.”

Together they worked out a plan of action while the rest of the team waited inside one of the side rooms, just in case something went wrong. They removed their helmets while they worked. Behind them they could hear the team examining everything. Tylial looked up and behind them before dropping her head next to Shepard.

“Watch out for Dasov. He’s bent the same way as Nalril,” Tylial said, her voice as low as she could make it.

Lily gave her a sharp look. “Thanks. You don’t think the same way?”

Tylial shook her head. “I’m here to do a job and earn my place in the Hierarchy. If those in the upper tiers say humans are part of the system, then that is good enough for me. And I don’t think anyone deserves to be blindsided.”

Lily gave her a grateful smile before returning her focus to the puzzle before them. Ten minutes later, Lily wiped her forehead with her forearm before turning to Tylial.

“Ready?”

“Cut it.”

A quick cut and sighs of relief escaped them both.

“All clear,” Tylial called out.

They climbed back to their feet as the rest of the squad rejoined them. The team encountered a few more hazards, but it was easy to see that they were done quickly and sloppily. Perhaps the attackers didn’t expect anyone to get past the first and more deadly of those that they had left behind.

The other teams found similar setups along their routes as they all moved towards the colony’s control center. They found a few more small gatherings of fallen colonists, but no sign yet of who had done the attacking. They progressed further into the complex, much of it still under construction. Their route was closest to the medical lab, so that was where Victus ordered them to go. There were no beds, just testing equipment and a few terminals. Dasov motioned for Tylial to check the computer for any clue as to what was going on. Her fingers flew over the keys as she hacked into the system.

“Sir! I found something,” Tylial said, not even looking up as she pulled up screen after screen of logs.

“What?”

“There was an outbreak, well, two of them really. The humans came down with something the doctors called the flu, really nasty version according to the notes. And the turians had a similar problem with cromsen, but more contagious and debilitating than what is normally found. Patient zeros for both had returned from leave on Illium several days before they got sick, sir.”

“Why is no one here then?” Dasov asked.

“No space; they set up a warehouse as an interim hospital to hold all the patients, sir.”

“Give me the location.”

“Done, sir.”

Dasov activated his comm unit. “Captain, sir. I’m sending you the location of a makeshift hospital the colony put together. Apparently, they had an outbreak of the flu and cromsen at the same time and the majority of them were down with one of those things.”

“I want teams three and one to check out this hospital, the rest of the teams are to continue on towards the control room. Stay sharp everyone, this can’t be a coincidence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and use of some awesome ideas she had, thank you! And another to the readers, hope you enjoy the update!


	23. Chapter 23

The squad made better time towards the warehouse; the pirates must have thought they wouldn’t head there, since there were no surprises littering the way. The thunk of their boots echoed eerily in the stillness of the station. Lily paused at the corner of an intersection for a moment, the others taking up positions behind her. In the distance, she heard the echo of boots coming closer to their position. Dasov heard it as well.

“Team One, are you approaching the intersection just south of the warehouse?” he asked over the comm.

“Affirmative.”

“Holding position, awaiting your arrival at that point.”

“Acknowledged.”

Lily waited for some sign that the new arrivals were in fact her fellow soldiers. A figure stopped just beyond the edge of the hall. 

“All clear?” a voice called out across from where Lily waited.

“All clear,” Lily replied.

She eased out of her spot just as the turian across from her did the same. He tapped the control on his helmet and the shading faded, revealing a smiling turian with blue eyes. She mimicked his gesture and threw him a wink before motioning behind her that the way was clear. Side by side, they advanced down the final corridor that led to the warehouse, checking for anything that might hinder their advancement.  
Garrus halted first, but Lily was only a second behind him as they came in view of the door. The squads took up guard positions behind them and waited. They shared a look and with a nod, they advanced forward in step. The door had been welded shut along its edges, but otherwise seemed safe to approach. 

Dasov activated his comm unit. “Captain, the warehouse doors have been welded shut. Orders, sir?”

Dasov waited, the moments dragging on long enough that he was about to ask if the Captain had received his first message.

“Teams Three and One: open it and find out the status of the colonists inside. Teams Two, Four, and Five will continue on to the control center and see if we can get eyes on our enemies.”

“Yes, sir,” Dasov said over the comm. “You heard the Captain; we need to get inside there.”

Tylial and another turian moved up to the door and began the tedious process of scanning along the melted edges, insuring there were no surprises waiting for them when they actually started to cut through it. The rest of the squad spread out as they searched through the nearby areas until they found tools that could be used to cut through the welded door. It wasn’t long before the door fell inwards, shattering the quiet of the area. 

Cots, beds, and sometimes only a blanket on the floor that contained a body were spread across the room. A few mobile individuals walked around, helping those who were still suffering from their illness. More than a few turned their heads to view who had just broken through the door.

A turian in medical garb rushed towards them. She approached one of the turians in charge, Team One’s squad leader - Yato. She grasped his hand in her own.

“Thank the Spirits. We weren’t sure if a distress beacon had been sent off or not.”

Yato gave her a reassuring squeeze of his hand. “Only a single pulse, but when the Hierarchy couldn’t establish contact with the colony, our patrol was sent to investigate. Do you know what happened here? Who these people are and what they are after?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know for sure.”

“Let’s start at the beginning then. When did everyone start getting sick?”

Dasov happily let Yato take the lead in questioning the doctor. He couldn’t imagine what she had done to be stationed here, with all these humans. He nodded to a few of his squad to follow him and they stood guard by the door. 

Yato watched Dasov move off before he turned his gaze back to the doctor.

“It was about five days ago. Neither disease is common off our home worlds, so we were surprised when we diagnosed the first case. By then, most everyone had been exposed to it. Did you find the others who were immune?”

“I’m sorry. Those that we have found so far were all dead. They died fighting off the attackers,” Yato said, a sorrowful hum in his words. “Has anyone died from either disease?”

“No, it’s highly contagious, but everyone here was healthy before this, so it’s just a matter of treating the symptoms until the body recovers.”

“Did you see who locked all of you in here?”

“No, at first we were afraid it was our own people. I got on the comm system and told them that a quarantine was pointless, since everyone had already been exposed. No one answered me. That’s when I began to suspect something else was going on.”

“Damn. Thank you, Doctor-”.

“It’s Tigil.”

“Doctor Tigil,” he said with a nod.

Yato activated his comm unit. “Captain, Team One reporting in. We are inside. A Doctor Tigil has informed us that there have been no deaths from the viruses and they have no idea who shut them in.”

“Team One, assign a few soldiers to remain there in case the attackers return. All others should report to the command center.” 

“Acknowledged, sir.”

***

A large number of soldiers guarded the entrance to the command center, and it soon became apparent why. The actual room was on the smaller side, so only Victus and those actively working on the equipment were currently inside it. One of those working on the equipment looked up at the sound of more boots and waved with one hand.

“Tylial and Eldon, get in here. Tylial, help get the cameras operational again. Eldon, come here and help me try to recover the footage from the last few days.”

The hallway’s atmosphere was tense. Waiting was always the hardest part of any mission. An elated shout brought their attention back to inside the room.

“Cameras are operational again, sir!”

“Good. I want every area scanned, anything unusual brought to my attention,” Victus said.

“At once, sir.”

Several turians huddled around the console for the cameras, studying the screens for any sign of those responsible for the attack. The rest worked to retrieve the data that had been deleted from the system. Victus stood patiently behind his people, watching them work.

“Lt. Vesci, are you sure you can retrieve it?”

“Provided it hasn’t been written over, yes. When you erase something, it remains there until something new has overwritten it. There is no evidence of anything new in the database, so it’s not actually gone; we just have to find it. Just need a little more time, sir.”

Victus nodded and turned towards where those viewing the camera feeds were working. He leaned in to view some of the screens more closely.

“Anything?”

“Nothing, sir. The sick colonists and our own people are the only ones we’ve found. However, several cameras are not currently functional.”

“Which ones?” Victus asked.

“The docking bay and a few in some of the secondary corridors, sir.”

“Send teams out to each location and determine why they aren’t working and repair them if possible.”

The turian saluted. “Yes, sir.” 

She tagged a few of her fellow techs and they disappeared out into the hallway to grab some soldiers to come with them. The soldiers fell in behind each one as each tech went to their destination.

“Captain, sir. We found some of the footage,” Vesci said.

“Excellent. Let’s see it.”

The footage was short, but a pattern became clear. The pirates shot out the cameras as soon as they could when they moved down the hallways. 

“Techs, return to the command center. Cameras were shot out,” Victus said. “Where were they heading?”

“To here. Once here, they just disabled all the cameras so there is no record of what they did.”

Victus growled. “They looked like Eclipse. We’ve never had them attack one of our assets before.”

“This place is on the edge of the Terminus system. And sir, you might want to see this message. They sent a request to the Hierarchy for an archaeology team.”

Victus let out his breath with a small sigh. “And now we know why they came here. A colony under construction with that sort of request. Spirits, tell me they at least encrypted the request?”

“Yes, sir. They did. The pirates must have broken the encryption. There is one more thing,” Vesci said.

“What?”

Vesci pulled up several pieces of footage of the brief moments before the camera was destroyed. A few flicks of his talons and it zoomed in on several different points.

“See here,” he said, pointing to the first still. “This is from the dock; notice there are six crates here. They wouldn’t be bringing in excavating equipment, they would just use what is here.”

“The explosive devices that were in our paths - you think those are them?”

“Yes, sir. I do. And we can account for five, but where is the sixth one?”

“Where it could do the most amount of damage.”

“By wiping out the warehouse full of sick people?”

“No, if they wanted to erase as much of this complex as possible they would take the last device to the power generator. The resulting explosion would destroy most of this complex and would cover their tracks more effectively.”

Victus strode out into the hall. The soldiers snapped to attention at his arrival.

“Alright, all squads head down to the power station. We have reason to believe an explosive device has been planted there. We must find it. Questions?”

“No, sir!” rang out in the hall. 

***

The power station was a maze of pipes and equipment. Finding anything in here was going to be a challenge. Shepard gazed about the space, wondering how you would go about planting a bomb in here. Did they hide it or did they assume that there would be no one able to disarm it? Vakarian, she found, was doing the same thing she was - assessing the situation. She pulled up the layout of the complex on her omni-tool. He sidled over to see what she was looking at.

“There,” she said, pointing at a service duct that ran through the area right beside the main generator.

“You think they could get a big enough bomb in there to do the job?”

“Have to check, but they left explosive devices in our path. They must have known we were coming when the distress signal went off.”

Her eyes drifted upwards and she could see the metal shaft, large enough to circulate the air for a room this size and big enough for an asari, human or salarian to fit through. Looking back down at the layout, the easiest access looked to be in a small office nearby. 

Velox finished her check of some of the crates that had arrived with the latest supply ship. She found nothing and a frustrated growl left her. As clever as these pirates had been, she’d thought that maybe they had hidden the device in a legitimate shipment crate. She noticed Vakarian and Shepard bent over her omni-tool as they examined the layout of the area. She strode towards them, curious at what they might have thought of.

“You have an idea?” Velox asked.

Their heads popped up. “Yes, ma’am. Look see this shaft, it’s large enough that maybe they put it in there and it runs right over this area.”

Velox looked up and eyed the structure. “Looks like a tight fit.”

“For a turian, yes. However, they were asari, salarians and humans, right? I can get in there and at least check,” Shepard said.

“Do it. If you find it, contact me immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am!” 

Lily saluted her before she trotted out of the room. She turned to look at Garrus as he kept pace beside her. She arched an eyebrow at him.

“What? You’re short and the shafts tend to run along the ceiling. I don’t see how you are going to reach it without making a pile of crates or something.”

“More short jokes, really?”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it, Shepard?”

“Ass,” she said with a laugh.

The office only contained a few items; apparently, it wasn’t in use yet. The grate that allowed air into the small room lay on the floor already. She turned to ask Garrus to give her a hand up when she spotted his smirk. 

“Not one word and get your ass over here and help me up.”

“I didn’t say a thing,” he said with a laugh.

He laced his fingers together and she stepped onto his hand. He lifted her up and she paused at the entrance. A flip of a few latches and she tossed her helmet off; it was a tight enough fit without that as well to hinder her.

“Hey! The humans have that disease, uh; you don’t want to get it.”

“I’ve already had my helmet off when I helped Tylial dismantle that first explosive. It will be hard enough to maneuver in there without that.”

“Yeah, I had to take mine off as well.”

She crawled into the shaft, the echoes of her movements loud in the confined space. Using her omni-tool, she navigated as best as she could towards where the generator should be. Ahead of her, she spotted a large object in her path. It took only a moment for her to confirm it was an explosive device, complete with a timer.

“Lt. Velox? I found it. It’s big and it has a timer, ma’am.”

“Shit. How long?”

“Fifteen minutes left on it, ma’am.”

“Come on out. We’ll send in the experts.”

“They’ll have to come at it from opposite sides. Not enough room for anything else.”

“Understood.”

Velox strode over to Vesci, the squad leader for the combat engineers.

“We found it, but it’s in that ventilation shaft above us. And it is on a timer.”

Vesci swore under his breath. “Show me where I can get in there.”

Velox pulled up the layout and showed him where Shepard had entered the shaft. He nodded and headed to the small office. He entered the room just as the human was crawling backwards out of it. A turian stood below her, trying to help her down. Her feet dangled down as he reached up with his hands, giving her a place to put them. He caught her before she dropped all the way to the floor and gently lowered her the rest of the way. She snagged her helmet where it sat on the ground and placed it back onto her head. 

“Give me a hand up so I can see what we have.”

“Yes, sir!” the two replied with a salute.

They laced their hands together and he placed a foot on the platform they created. The hands wobbled a bit, but they managed to get him up to the entrance. His helmet, however, wouldn’t go through. He ripped it off and let it drop to the ground. The helmet gone, his fringe was now giving him problems. He tipped his head one way and then the other before finally getting it through the opening. He pulled himself the rest of the way in. He could fit in it, but there was no way he would be able to work on an explosive, as he had to keep his head tilted a certain way so the fringe didn’t catch on the walls. Swearing, he pushed himself back out and down. The pair helped him down from the shaft.

“Dievas and Tylial, report to me immediately,” he said over the comm, sending his location over the omni-tool.

“Situation?” Victus asked, after hearing Vesci’s order.

“Sir, the bomb has been found, but it’s up in a ventilation shaft. I’m unable to get in there and see what sort of device it even is. The shaft is too small. I’m hoping Dievas and Tylial will fit better. And sir, it’s on a timer.”

“Understood. Keep me informed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Vesci led Dievas, his other female tech, to a spot where he had ordered a hole cut into the shaft rather than have her crawl a far greater distance to reach the other side of the bomb. There was no time to evacuate anyone, they would all either live or die on the outcome. He found he wasn’t the only one watching a timer countdown on their tool. 

Lily had heard the phrase ‘time flies when you are having fun’ growing up. However, as she watched the time count down right now, she thought it should be changed to ‘time flies when death is on the line’. At least she would go out with Garrus at her side. Garrus placed his hand on her shoulder as if he knew what she had been thinking.

An elated “We did it!” rang through everyone’s suit just as the time had fallen to less than a minute.

Victus smiled and clapped Vesci’s shoulder before speaking into the comm system. “Good work, engineers! Now we just need to find the bastards responsible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help and more importantly for being a friend! Thank you, dear! Cookies for everyone! And a thank you to the readers for their continued support, thank you!


	24. Chapter 24

Victus and the rest of the squad leaders gathered around the map of the surrounding area. 

“They have to be nearby. There are no reports of any ships leaving this planet and with the bomb set to go off they wouldn’t have stayed in the complex,” Velox said.

“Agreed. Do we know if they took a ground vehicle?” Victus asked.

Vesci moved over to one of the consoles and pulled up the image from the camera in the hangar where the colonists stored their ground vehicles. Delving into the system, he pulled up an inventory list.

“Based on what is listed here and what we can see, it looks like two trucks are missing.”

“Once we have their location, will we be able to do an orbital strike?” Dasov asked.

“Negative. Command wants us to retrieve what they stole if at all possible,” Victus said with a shake of his head. “We have to go in and neutralize the threat. Velox - take a truck and your people and find them.”

“Based on the distance a truck can travel, there are only a few places with any cover for them to hide in. Sir, they must be expecting a ship to pick them up,” Velox said.

“Agreed. This ravine here appears to be the most likely place for them to hole up. Once we have their location, we will move in and eliminate them. Any questions?” Victus asked, his gaze sweeping over them. “Good. If you even just suspect where they are, contact me. We want the element of surprise if we can.”

“Understood, sir,” Velox said before activating her comm. “Recon squad, front and center.”

Velox strode out of the control room to find her team in formation and awaiting her command.

***

The sandy grit that covered the ground blew around them; any tracks that the vehicles they were searching for had made were long gone. The team headed for the ravine that had been singled out as the most promising place to start. A click away from their destination, Velox stopped the vehicle behind a natural rock formation. She checked her weapons, a signal to her people that the rest of the way would be on foot. 

“Serlo, Shepard, and I will take the more obvious approach along the natural entrance to the south. Relmos and Vakarian, you have the longer hike, but I want you to come around from the north. If you spot anything, contact me. Our job is only to find our enemies and to evaluate their position. Questions?”

“No, ma’am,” rang through the truck.

Their boots made a dull thud as they connected with the rock underneath them. The teams spread out as they moved towards their separate destinations. Velox halted every now and then to scan the horizon, looking for the telltale presence of a sentry. She kept them at a slow, careful pace, but there was no way she was going to be the one that told the Captain that they had lost the element of surprise.

About halfway to the ravine they spotted something that looked like a figure silhouetted against the horizon. It might be a rock formation, but maybe not. At a signal from Velox, they dropped to the ground and scanned the area through field glasses. It appeared to be a salarian standing guard.

“Relmos, update,” Velox barked into the comm.

“We are still in route. No sightings, ma’am.”

“We’ve spotted a sentry here, so be on the alert.”

“Yes, ma’am. Relmos out.”

Velox paused for a moment before she activated her comm again. “Captain, we have a visual of a sentry near the ravine on the south side. Nothing yet on the north side.”

“How far out are you?” Victus asked.

“Less than half a click from the ravine; we left the truck about a click out.”

“We will head to where your truck is parked. Will hold position there until you can eliminate all sentries before we advance into the ravine.”

“Understood, sir,” she said. “Serlo, Shepard, go make sure there are no other sentries on this side. I’ll hold position here.”

A gesture from her and Serlo crept away to the right while Shepard went left. Her own rifle remained trained on the figure in the distance. Her target appeared unaware of any possible threat, yet she was still relieved when her team reported in.

“Relmos here, nothing on the north side. Vakarian and I are in position to support the assault from here.”

“Serlo here, my area is clear. Ready to provide covering fire.”

“Shepard here, sentry in my sights. Ready to eliminate the target on your signal.”

“Good work, hold positions and be ready,” Velox told them. “Captain, we’ve identified and have two sentries targeted. Ready on your mark.”

“Excellent. When we near your position, eliminate them and move up and into position to support our advance into the ravine.”

“Understood, sir.”

Velox felt rather than heard the trucks as they neared her position. The vibrations of the machines radiated through her body. Her eyes remained on her mark. She waited for him to hear the sound of the vehicles and raise an alarm.

“We are almost to your location, Velox. On my mark, remove the sentries. Three...two...one...mark.”

Velox pulled the trigger and the sentry fell. The report of the rifle echoed across the barren land. She stood up and raced towards where he had been. The trucks rumbled past her on the way down into the ravine. She didn’t stop until she was in position along the ridgeline.

“Shepard, report.”

“Target down, in position now,” Shepard said, her breath huffing over the comm.

The fight had barely started before it was over; the superior firepower and position of the soldiers overwhelmed the few hostiles left.

Victus strode through the bodies towards the trucks while his people ensured that there were none alive. He opened the door on the first vehicle and found it filled with crates of ore - mainly eezo and a few other precious metals. He turned his attention to the second truck. The crates in this one did little to reveal what treasure was contained inside. These must be what the Hierarchy wanted back; the colonists must have crated them up before the pirates hit. He dropped back out of the truck and waved over the closest squad leader.

“Throw the bodies in the back of one of these trucks. We’ll dispose of them properly back at the complex.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

Victus stood in the control room, waiting for the connection to Command to go through. The soldiers were hard at work putting the station back together as best as they could. The console in front of him lit up as it connected.

“Report, Captain.”

“Hostiles eliminated. Cargo retrieved and is back awaiting pickup. Most of the colonists still alive are sick; human and turian viruses hit the station hard, sir.”

“Good work. Any of your people exposed?”

“A few removed helmets in order to deal with explosives, sir.”

“Hold position there. Protect the station and begin what repairs your people can do. Once the station is clear of any infectious diseases, we will send reinforcements to take over. When they are able, the colonists will need to put in a requisition for whatever personnel they need to replace.”

“Understood, sir.”

The console went dark. Victus activated his comm.

“Squad leaders report to the control room.”

It didn’t take long for his team to assemble. He stood at attention until the last one arrived from where they had been out working.

“Command has ordered us to stay here and protect this station. When the viruses have been purged from this site, they will send in replacements for us. I want at least two squads on site at all times, not including those who may get sick. Velox, set up the rotation. Anyone who removed their helmets at any time is to stay at this facility until they are asymptomatic. We are to begin repairs even as we guard against further incursions. Vesci, decide on what is top priority on the repairs. Keep me posted on any updates. Questions?”

He nodded. “Good, dismissed.”

Victus motioned for Dasov to stay while the rest of his people left to begin organizing the cleanup of the station.

“Sir?”

“Dasov, how did it go today with Nalril and Shepard?”

Dasov paused for only a moment as he decided on a course of action.

“Sir, I don’t think Shepard is cut out to work in a team with turians.”

“Problems between her and Nalril again?”

“They actually didn’t have much interaction, but I don’t think she worked well with Tylial, our combat engineer. She seemed ill at ease with her.”

“Really?”

“Why don’t I go bring Tylial here and you can ask her,” Dasov said. That would give him a little time to talk to her. He was sure he could get her to say whatever he wanted with only a little nudge from him. She had always seemed sympathetic towards Nalril.

“No, that’s alright. I’d rather not make her feel like she is being brought in for questioning. I’ll find her myself.”

Dasov kept his face neutral until Victus was gone. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He could only hope that he had read Tylial correctly.

***

Victus found the young engineer helping to repair some of the electronics that had been damaged in the attack. He had pulled up what records he could on her while he walked through the facility. She was due for a promotion soon and had served on the Intrepid for two years so far. A solid soldier from everything he read.

“Private First Class Tylial?”

She turned to see whom it was and leaped to her feet with a salute.

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“At ease.”

“You were involved with disabling the bomb in the ventilation shaft, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How difficult was it?”

“Well, the tight quarters made it challenging, but luckily after disabling that first big one on the way in, we had an idea of what to expect, sir.”

“You think they were made by the same individual?”

“I believe so, sir. I would guess they brought them with them already made. Completely different style from the others, sir.”

“What makes you think that?”

Tylial pulled up her omni-tool and started a video feedback. The image jumped about a little as her hands moved but he could see the inner workings of the bombs. He heard her talking to someone and then a pair of hands entered the view - human hands.

“I made a vid of it. I wanted to study this later on my own. See that, sir. Shepard had to hold that wiring back so I could reach that wire there. But that - I’ve never seen a bomb wired that way before and I saw the same exact thing on the one in the shaft, sir.”

“So Shepard was there helping you the whole time?”

“On that first one, yes. Is there a problem, sir?”

“No, not at all, but keep playing that video. I’m curious now to see the rest of this.”

Her mandibles fluttered a little nervously. “I, uh, hadn’t planned on it being seen by anyone but me. We may have sworn a little.”

Victus let out a laugh. “Swearing while diffusing a bomb is standard procedure as far as I’m concerned. That doesn’t matter to me.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, the relief in her sub-tones very evident to him.

He watched as the pair worked to identify the trigger and disarm the device. The vivid red of Shepard’s hair even came into view at one point as she struggled to hold a different section for Tylial. Her helmet was off and her hair fell around her head. He snorted a laugh when Tylial called the bomb maker a varren humping, quad sucking ass. He’d have to remember that one for later, but for now he had all the information he needed.

“Good work, PFC. Carry on.”

“Thank you, sir!”

He slowed his steps back towards the control room as he considered his next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and suggestions on this part, thank you! And another to the readers, who you know, are still reading. Thank you!


	25. Chapter 25

Dasov stood going over the reports on the datapad in his hand; only the slight flutter to his mandibles provided any insight into his true feelings. Surely, Victus must have found Tylial by now. The echoes of booted feet had his head snapping up. Victus strode into the area, followed by several more soldiers.

“Sir?”

“Lt. Dasov, you are hereby relieved of duty.”

“What are the charges?” he asked, his spine stiff.

“Conduct unbecoming of an officer.”

“What did she say?” Perhaps he could find some way to turn this around.

“Nothing.”

“I don’t understand,” Dasov said, rubbing his brow plate.

“She _showed_ me.”

“What?”

“A vid she made to study that first explosive, the one where she worked with Shepard. And in that vid, all I saw was two soldiers working side by side, trust evident in every action as they defused it together.”

Dasov’s eyes narrowed as he realized his gambit had failed.

“I can’t believe you would choose that human over a fellow turian - an officer even,” Dasov spat out. 

Victus sighed; now he understood Nalril a little better. “You lied to me to further your personal vendetta. If I can’t trust you to tell me the truth, then how can I trust any decision you make?” 

Victus held his hand out towards Dasov. “Your weapons.”

The slight hesitation on Dasov’s part caused the soldiers behind Victus to draw their weapons and aim them at him. Seeing no other recourse, Dasov reached for his weapons carefully, pulling them out one at a time to place in Victus’s hands.

Victus gestured to the soldiers. “Put him in a detainment cell until the next shuttle heads back to the ship. Then escort him to the brig on the _Intrepid_ until I can arrange for his transfer back to Command.”

His soldiers saluted him before moving to flank Dasov as they left the area. He pulled up the ship’s roster on his tool before activating his comm.

“Sgt. Tyrek, you are in sole charge of your squad until further notice.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Tyrek replied, her words coming out in a surprised rush.

***

Hours later and the complex had finally been checked thoroughly for both explosives and hostiles. The bodies of the fallen were moved into a makeshift morgue until families could make arrangements for them. They had even had to tinker with the air ducts to allow for certain areas to have negative airflow: the ‘hospital’, along with a set of barracks and a bathroom to use. The last two were areas that the recon and tech squads would need for their stay in the facility as all of them had removed their helmets at one time or another. The medical teams from the ships had been brought down and their first order of business had been sanitizing anything that might have been contaminated before moving on to assist those in the hospital. 

The squads were tired and hungry when they headed to the barracks they had been assigned to. Meals for the near future were ration bars until the food could be checked as a possible source of the outbreaks. Ideally, they would have all been kept separate, but they just didn’t have the room - well, unless they took over private quarters, so this had been the best compromise. The stack of clean linens at the door indicated that this room had already been cleaned by some member of the ship’s crew.

“Grab some sheets and pick a bunk. This is where we will be sleeping until further notice,” Velox announced.

Vesci moved up to stand beside Velox, all the while watching their soldiers spread out in the room. At least there were a few tables and chairs for their use while confined to this room.

“You realize if just one of us gets it, chances are we all will end up sick.”

“Don’t remind me,” Velox said, as a soft sigh escaped her. “This could really suck.”

The room was set up to hold twenty soldiers, so there was plenty of room for just the ten of them. They spread across the room except for Lily and Garrus; they decided to take their usual spots on the same bunk. Personal items had been moved into storage, but Lily noticed from her top bunk something they had missed. Tucked in between the wall and her mattress was a deck of cards.

She clutched it in her hand above her head even as she said, “Bingo!”

Garrus chuckled from below her. “Find a credit chit?”

“What does that even mean?” Serlo asked from a nearby bunk.

Lily leaned over the edge of the bunk, her prize still clutched in her hand. “Cards - we can at least have something to do while in here. Do you want to start with something easy, Vakarian, like ‘Go Fish’?”

“Uh, you have a game named after-,” he paused for a moment as he looked up the word, “after an aquatic life form?”

“It’s a child’s game, you know, matching pictures and numbers,” she laughed.

“Laugh it up. Maybe you’re just afraid of something with a little skill needed,” he chuckled.

“Oh, it’s on now. How about Skyllian five? Though what are we going to bet with?”

Garrus glanced around the room looking for anything that might be used for tokens. His eye caught on Relmos chomping down on a ration bar even as he watched Shepard and him.

“Ration bars! We can use them to bet with, they gave us a whole bag of the things.”

Lily laughed as she swung down off her bed. “Better than nothing.”

He dipped his head down low so he could whisper in her ear. “If we were alone I would suggest we play for clothing; sadly we are not.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “How did I know you would say something like that?”

“Lucky guess?”

That drew another laugh from her as she moved to one of the tables. Garrus grabbed the bag of bars and handed a stack to Lily and another for himself. Lily shuffled the cards; a voice from behind her had her swiveling around to look at the speaker.

“Can I join in?” Tylial asked.

“That would be great and then we can gang up on Vakarian. I’m Lily, by the way.”

Garrus grabbed another stack of bars to place in front of Tylial. “Garrus, and now I’ll have twice as many bars when I take you both down!”

“Ligea.”

“This seems terribly unfair. Two against one,” a bystander said.

“Well, join me then,” Garrus said, motioning at a chair.

The newcomer slid into a chair. “Thanks. I’m Creon Eldon.”

Garrus slid another stack of bars in front of him. The rest of the squad watched as the four of them played. It soon became evident that the two women would be the last ones left. Garrus was the first one out of bars. Creon had one left in front of him when Ligea raised the bet to two bars. He eyed his cards and then held up his last bar.

“Look see, this one is special! It’s easily worth at least three regular bars. See this little spot here, it means it’s a premium bar.”

Ligea and Lily laughed and played along, giving the item a closer look.

“Looks like a printing error to me,” Ligea chuckled.

“Hate to break up the tournament, but it’s lights-out,” Velox announced, bringing a chorus of sighs.

They carefully placed their cards face down on the table before moving to their beds. At least they had something to look forward to tomorrow after shift.

***

Garrus puzzled for a moment over what exactly had awoken him. No alarms could be heard, no omni-tools were vibrating, and the only sound he heard was that of his fellow soldiers. Nothing seemed amiss, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong. Then he heard it: a slight noise from above him where Lily slept. However, it sounded like she was awake - no, in distress. A small whine then a weird chattering noise could be heard coming from where she was.

He rolled out of his bunk as quietly as he could. The clock indicated that there was still several hours before they were due to get up. He blinked a few times, giving his eyes a chance to adjust to the dark. The lump on the top bunk took shape; Lily had curled up as tightly as she could. He knew humans were flexible, Spirits were they ever, but this wasn’t Lily’s usual position. He grazed the side of her cheek with the back of one finger. Her skin was warm to his touch, turian warm. That couldn’t be good. Crap, he needed to get her to the doctors in that makeshift hospital.

“Garrus? So cold. Any more blankets?” she asked, her voice weak.

She must have woken up when he touched her. He laid his hand on her shoulder.

“I need to get you to the hospital.”

He tried to gather her up, but she weakly slapped at his hands.

“Have to be in armor,” she said.

“More important to get you to a doctor.”

“Rules. Won’t let you in. Get in trouble. Don’t want that,” she said, every breath louder than the last.

“Fine,” he said. Arguing with her was often a waste of time, he had found, even if this time she was right.

His hands flew as he retrieved his armor and slapped it into place. He understood the reasoning; after all, they were trying to minimize the chance that they would spread the virus around. But Lily was sick now, and to him that was more important.

His armor in place, he reached out to help her out and this time she grabbed onto his arms gratefully. However, when her feet hit the floor, her legs crumpled under her. He helped her onto his bunk while he grabbed her armor. Although he had more practice removing it, he still was able to put it on faster than he’d expected. Unwilling to waste any more time, he scooped her up and held her against his chest as he headed out the door.

He passed a few patrols, but no one stopped him beyond asking where he was going. As soon as he said the hospital, they waved him on. The guards in front of the warehouse door yelled ‘medic’ upon sighting him and his cargo. One of the medical staff in full enviro-suit, obviously from one of the ships, hurried to his side.

“Follow me,” she said.

She wove her way through the area until she found an empty cot. Garrus put her down as gently as he could.

The two of them began stripping off the armor of the young woman.

“Cold. Can I have another blanket?” she asked as she curled up under the one that had been on the cot.

Garrus’s head snapped up and he looked around for another, but the doctor stopped him from retrieving one with a hand on his arm.

“She can’t have another.”

Garrus stared at her, trying to decide if this was something personal against Lily. The doctor must have noticed the tension in his stance.

“She’s already running a fever; another blanket would raise her body temperature to dangerous levels. Trust me, we will look after her.”

Garrus nodded, unsure what to do now. Sleep was out of the question. He watched for a moment as the doctor scanned Lily. The doctor looked up and waved Garrus off.

“Inform her squad leader that she is here, Private.”

Garrus saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

He gave one last look at Lily before he left. His steps were slow as he walked back to the barracks. His fingers were busy typing a message to Velox that Lily was down.  


By the end of the day, there were only three left standing of the original ten: Vakarian, Vesci and Dievas. The following week ranked as one of the worst in his life. Off duty, he was forbidden from visiting Lily, so he could only _assume_ she was still alive. After a few days, some of the colonists were recovered enough that they were released from care. They assisted the soldiers in putting the colony back together. Victus kept them busy and that made the day bearable. Once they were cleared of carrying any virus, then off shift they could sleep back on the ship, however that only brought home the fact that Lily wasn’t there in her usual spot above him. At least no one had come to clean out her locker. He wasn’t sure how long he was staring at her bunk, but he was jolted out of his reverie when his omni-tool pinged. His heart soared; maybe Lily was finally well enough to send him messages. He opened it up and he nearly deleted what he saw, but after a moment, he typed a reply.

_Fine, you want to talk then meet me in the ring tonight. We’ll talk there. - Vakarian._

He only had to wait a few seconds before a new message came in.

_Agreed, but let’s do this before the main meal. - Nalril._

Garrus sent off his agreement without a moment’s hesitation. Maybe he could get some answers as well as some satisfaction. Not wasting any time, he strode out, heading down to the combat room to get warmed up. Along the way, he nearly ran over Roka in his haste to get there. Roka changed direction to pace alongside Garrus upon seeing his agitation. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, seeing that Garrus wasn’t going to stop for anything.

“Nalril has agreed to meet me in the ring. He says he wants to talk,” Garrus said with a certain amount of glee.

“You know he is ranked higher than you?” 

“That doesn’t matter to me,” Garrus said. As far as he was concerned, pain might be cathartic at the moment. 

“Mind if I come along? I’d love to know what he is planning now.”

Garrus grunted something that might have been a yes; anyway, that was how Roka took it.

“Heard from Lily yet?” Roka asked.

“No.”

Roka heard the sadness laced in that one word much as Garrus tried to quell it.

“She’ll be back before you know it.”

Garrus could only nod as he hoped that was true. The combat room was nowhere near capacity when they entered it. Most were in the process of finishing what they were doing before heading up for the evening meal. Probably why Nalril wanted to do it now: less witnesses for whatever he had planned. Of course, he wasn’t alone, but Nalril didn’t need to know that. 

He didn’t have long to wait; he had barely gotten a few hits in on one of the practice dummies when his opponent showed up. They nodded to each other and Garrus moved up into the ring. Nalril joined him as soon as he donned his sparring gear. Nalril gestured towards where Roka stood.

“Why is he here?”

“I’m their friend and I want to make sure you weren’t going to blindside him as well,” Roka replied.

Nalril’s shoulders dropped a little. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.”

Nalril turned back to Garrus and gestured that he was ready. That was all Garrus needed; their talk would have to wait. With a snarl, he launched himself at the other turian. Nalril chose to meet him head on and they clashed together with a thud as they grappled for control.

“Why?” Garrus bit out as he strained to stay upright.

“You’ll have to be more specific.” Nalril was surprised by the strength behind the younger turian. He knew Vakarian was moving up the ranks, but he hadn’t thought he would be a true fight.

“From attacking Lily to sending that message to my dad,” Garrus replied before tucking his head down to push against Nalril.

“I blamed her. Now answer one of mine.”

They broke apart and circled each other. 

“On that colony, the colonists who were killed. I didn’t expect to see them all jumbled together. Why wouldn’t the turians keep apart? Wouldn’t they be stronger that way?”

Garrus shook his head in disgust. “Just because you’re a turian doesn’t mean you automatically shoot better than a human. They were all fighting for their homes and they were stronger together than apart. It’s sad you can’t see that.”

Nalril threw a wild punch, more anger than precision behind it. “No! You are wrong!”

Garrus ducked under the punch, pushed Nalril’s fist up, and spun him around. “And if you swallowed any of the crap that Dasov was feeding you, then you have to ask yourself; maybe he lied to you as well? After all, he was caught in a lie by the Captain and will be demoted and kicked out of the military.”

Nalril had thought the same thing upon hearing what had happened. He had trusted him and to find out that perhaps he had misjudged Dasov was painful to say the least. A snarl escaped him and he twisted free from the hold Vakarian had on him. They circled each other once more.

“What did you plan to do if my dad hadn’t taken Lily with us?” Garrus snarled.

Nalril gave him a lopsided smile and it worked exactly as he hoped it would: the younger turian charged him with a roar. Nalril used his momentum to toss him to the mat.

“How did you convince your dad to take her with him?” Nalril asked, even as he worked to secure pinning Garrus to the mat.

“He’s a C-Sec officer; he’s sworn to protect everyone on the Citadel, regardless of their species. All I had to do was present the facts that she was the target, not me,” Garrus said.

He twisted violently and managed to dislodge the other turian. Instead of rolling away from him, he followed Nalril as he went over and used his weight to try to pin him.

“Why do you hate her?” Garrus snarled.

“I hate all humans; they killed my parents.”

Garrus smashed his head into Nalril’s, stunning them both for a second.

“Idiot, people died on both sides. That’s what happens in wars.”

Garrus released Nalril and slowly stood up. “I’m done here. Nice talk.”

Nalril climbed to his feet. “You don’t understand,” he began.

Garrus stopped, but didn’t turn around. “No, _you_ don’t. They are part of our society. I’m sorry about your parents, but you need to let it go or you’ll end up like Dasov. The Hierarchy won’t tolerate a troublemaker.”

Roka moved up to walk beside Garrus as he headed into the locker area. Garrus was quiet as he donned his armor.

“You did a lot better than I expected against him,” Roka said with a grin.

Garrus snorted. “I was motivated. I don’t know if I should just pity him or smack him upside the head for being a fool.”

“A little of both might work. Come on, let’s go grab some dinner.”

Garrus nodded. His body hurt, but he did feel better after his time in the ring. And he’d have a good story to tell Lily when she got back. Spirits, did he miss her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help and another to the readers! Thank you!


	26. Chapter 26

Lily watched the time on her omni-tool creep by. It was still set to ship time, so she had to wait until their midday meal before she could send a message out. Well, she could send it now, but she didn’t want to distract him. She had meant to do it yesterday; however, she had been unable to stay awake during his breaks. So today that was her goal: stay awake long enough to at least get a message out to Garrus. Only a few other patients were still in the warehouse being treated alongside her. Feeling a cough building, she closed her eyes and braced for the burning fire that seemed to come from deep in her chest. She curled in on herself as the cough shook her frame. When it finally eased, she realized it wasn’t as bad as before; either that or she was becoming immune to the pain. She wiped her mouth and decided to begin writing her message to Garrus.

_Finally feel alive enough to send you a message. The only good thing I can say about being here is that I get real food. Well, when I’m able to actually eat it. It’s a good thing you aren’t here; I’m terribly boring right now. Mostly sleeping or coughing, sometimes at the same time! Miss you! - L._

She sent it out only a few minutes before his break. Her arm fell back across her stomach as she rested. Damn, her muscles felt like so much wet noodles. She closed her eyes for a moment when her tool vibrated. 

_About damn time you messaged me. I was about to stage a break-in to find out what they did with your body. I thought that your flu wasn’t supposed to be that bad? Or are you just taking an extended vacation in there? Must be the food; I guess I should worry if you ever meet a chef._

_Have you heard about Lt. Dasov? And you’ll never guess who messaged me because they wanted to talk. I miss you too. - G._

She grinned at the quick reply. He always seemed to know how to make her smile. 

_Yeah, well, apparently the flu wasn’t enough for me, I had to add pneumonia on top of it; hence, my extended stay at the ‘warehouse suite’. The docs think it hit me harder since I’ve never had the flu before. I can’t remember Mindoir ever having an episode of it, since we were so far from Earth and so few people traveled between those two places. They suspect the pirates were behind the outbreak, but had to send samples out for a more detailed analysis. I hear things, well, when I’m awake. And about a chef, I guess that just means you should learn to cook for me. Hint, hint!_

_So what happened to Dasov? Hopefully he didn’t give you any grief. Tylial warned me that he was like Nalril. You remember that tech that helped me clean you out in Skyllian five? So who messaged you? Say hi to Roka for me. - L._

It took a little longer for the next message to come in.

_I’m sorry you’re still feeling like crap. Hard to learn how to cook while on the ship, but I’ll definitely put that on my list of things to do. Cookies being the first thing I need to learn to make. Think of all the traps I could set with them. What is it you like to say, mwhahaha!_

_Well, Dasov is no longer a squad leader. He was returned to Command by the Captain’s orders. I’ve been digging around and the only thing I can find out is that he lied to the Captain about something. The guards who were witnesses are disgustingly professional about the whole incident. Anyway, he was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and put into custody. Although with what you said Tylial told you, my guess is he must have been trying to stir something up about you._

_I’m at lunch now, typing in between eating. Roka says hi and he says he is sending you a vid. He won’t tell me what though. I’m almost scared to ask you what he sent you. If it’s dirty, send it to me!_

_Oh, and it was Nalril who pinged me with a request to ‘talk’. I suggested we do it in the sparring ring. All I learned was that he’s an idiot. - G._

Lily shook her head in disgust. She would have given anything to see that chat they had, although she doubted much was said. She found it odd that Nalril would go after Garrus, but like he said, Nalril was an idiot. Her tool pinged again and she quickly opened the note from Ceryx even as she wondered what he had sent her.

_Hey, glad you are back among the living. I recorded this just in case Nalril did anything stupid, well, besides open his mouth. So here you go. Hope it at least gives you a good laugh! - C._

Lily hit play and watched as two turians circled each other in the ring. Luckily, no one was near her when she chuckled at the headbutt Garrus gave his opponent. She sent a quick thank you to Ceryx before she composed her next message to Garrus.

_You’re right, he is an idiot. Ceryx managed to catch your good side during the fight. Oh, and nice headbutt! What krogan battlemaster did you serve under?_

__

_As for laying traps with cookies, so not only do I get a treat but also sex when I get ‘caught’. I don’t see a downside to that anywhere. Better start downloading how to bake cookies! And speaking of food, here comes mine and after that I think I’ll have another nap. I’ll message you later. Of course now that you know I’m alive you can send me notes as well, at least when you are off duty! - L._

The doctor on duty followed behind the nurse handing out the meal trays. Lily had to watch her soup cool down while the doctor ran his tests. He must have noticed the sad look on her face because he motioned for her to eat while he pulled up a stool to sit along her cot.

“You’re doing much better today. If your fever stays down until tomorrow, well, then we can release you for light duty. And after that the ship medic will have to evaluate you as to when you are combat ready. Any questions?”

“No, sir. Thank you, sir!”

He waved off her thanks. “Don’t thank me, soldier. Just like you, I’m doing my job. Though your job is a lot more dangerous than mine, usually.”

He patted her on the shoulder as he went on to his next patient. At least she had some good news to tell Garrus later: she should be able to return to the ship soon.

***  
Lt. Velox stood just inside the door of the place she had hoped not to have to see again, but at least this time she was fetching her last squad member rather than being sick herself. She watched as Shepard, dressed once more in her armor, headed for the door with a doctor beside her. This doctor was easily distinguished as one of the colonists, as he was human. 

“Here is your squad member, along with a list of restrictions for the time being. I’m sure your ship’s doctors are familiar with human flu now after their work down here, so they can evaluate when she should be cleared for combat. Take care of yourself, Shepard.”

Lily nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

Velox motioned for her to follow. “Come on, Shepard, you get to join those of us in the ranks of being on light duty. Today’s project is clearing data off old pads and fixing any problems with them.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They didn’t have too long of a wait for a shuttle to carry them back to the ship. From there, Velox led them to a conference room that had been set aside for their use. The door opened to a large table full of datapads with various members of the tech and recon squad around it, each working on a stack of the devices in front of them.

Lily took an empty chair and set about going through the devices before her. Where the Captain had managed to find so many of the things was beyond her. An occasional question and the tapping of fingers on the machines broke the quiet now and then. It felt good to have something constructive to do, even if it was rather boring. No one left anything interesting to read on her stack.

“Alright, shift is over. Go get your meal and get some rest, we have lots more of these things to go through tomorrow,” Velox announced.

With a sigh of relief, Lily pushed herself away from the table and headed for the mess with the rest of her fellow workers. She found herself walking next to Tylial and threw her a friendly smile.

“Shame our complete domination of that game had to go unfinished,” Lily said.

“I know. We should do that again sometime,” Ligea laughed.

A snort from behind them had them both turning to find Creon shaking his head.

“It was a setup, wasn’t it? Out to fleece us poor guys of every last ration bar we had.”

“Pfft, you guys were practically giving them to us. Can’t blame us for taking the unwanted things off your hands,” Lily said.

“You up for a rematch, Creon, or are you just going to whine about losing?” Ligea asked. Her mandibles fluttered as she tried to contain her laugh.

“It’s more like will Vakarian be up for it? After all, he fell long before I did.”

“Well, if he doesn’t want to, I might know of a fourth who we could ask.”

“I’m in. And this time, I won’t play so nice,” Creon boasted.

His words only made Lily and Ligea laugh harder. They found Garrus and Ceryx already at a table in the hall. Ceryx found himself a little amused at Lily’s ability to charm others and he wasn’t sure how he ended up being the fourth for their card game as Garrus had begged off, saying he needed more practice before he faced them again. But as soon as the meal was over they had found a break room with an empty table. Ligea, oddly enough, seemed to have everything they needed, both the cards and betting chips. Creon had joked about them about to be hammered again and Ligea had only given him a grin.

Garrus pulled Lily down to sit in front of him. It was a little tight, but he needed to feel her against himself. He’d rather spend the evening like this than across the table from her, which was his real reason to not play. Well, and he was curious; was she that good or just damn lucky? Ceryx sat across from them while Ligea was on their right and Creon on their left. Garrus chuckled when Creon lost the first hand in spectacular fashion. 

“Ceryx, don’t let their cute little smiles and laughter fool you, those two are like varren after a bleeding pyjak,” Garrus said, waving a hand over towards Ligea before pointing it at Lily.

Ceryx grinned over at him. “And here I was going to say that it seemed like an unfair advantage for Lily to have you helping her.”

“Trust me; we should get so lucky if Lily takes his advice. He was the first one out last time we played,” Creon laughed.

“Lies and slander. I was merely playing cautiously,” Garrus scoffed.

“Right then, so Vakarian is the weakest link, good to know,” Ceryx said. “Hey, Garrus, were you able to find out any more about what happened to Dasov?”

Garrus shook his head. “Sadly, no.”

Ligea gave a small cough and all heads turned to look at her.

“Spill it. What do you know?” Garrus asked.

“Well, I don’t know if this is why, but shortly before Dasov was taken to a holding cell the Captain came to see me.”

“About what?” Lily asked.

“He was asking about the bombs we encountered. I showed him the vid I made of us working on that first one and then I told him the second one was put together similarly, so I was pretty sure they were made by the same person. He didn’t ask anything specific though.”

Lily covered her face with one hand. “You mean you made a vid of us defusing that bomb? I’m sure he enjoyed the view up my nose while I was holding back the wires that one time.”

Ligea laughed. “Well, I don’t think he was completely repulsed by it and he did try and hold back a laugh at my swearing.”

Lily groaned and dropped her cards on the table, making sure they were face down of course.

Garrus laughed. “Oh, now that sounds like a great vid. I think you should share it.”

“Ewww, I do not want to look up anyone’s nose,” Creon said.

“I wonder what Dasov said to make the Captain go to you,” Ceryx said.

“If I had to guess, I would say he insinuated that there was a problem between Ligea and Lily,” Garrus said. “It’s a good thing you had that vid, nose shot and all. Then there was no doubt about what had happened and you weren’t asked to testify against an officer.”

Ligea gave a little shiver. “That would have sucked if he had expected me to lie for him. It would have been my career on the line then.”

“I’m just glad he’s gone. And it appears as if Creon is looking to give us all his chips, how sweet!” Lily said with a laugh.

Creon put a protective hand around the few chips still in front of him. “Leave my poor little chips alone. You have enough in front of you already!”

“See what I mean? They are vicious,” Garrus said with an overly dramatic shiver of his body.

“Who knew that someone so young could be so cutthroat,” Creon said.

“Hey, being the youngest in the recon squad, you have to be aggressive or get lost in the crowd. How long have you two been in the tech group?” Lily asked.

“Newest recruits as well.” Ligea sighed before turning to Ceryx. “What about you?”

Ceryx nodded. “Youngest engineer, but still older than the lot of you.”

“He’s practically ancient at twenty-three,” Garrus added.

That made them all laugh. Ceryx shook his head.

“And yet I’m doing better than you two did against the ladies, so what does that say?”

“With great age comes better card playing?” Creon laughed.

“If I were you, I would hope you would improve eventually,” Ligea said with a grin.

“Hey, I’m still better than Vakarian!”

“That’s not saying much,” Lily said under her breath.

Garrus, however, heard her. He retaliated by tickling her until she begged for mercy. The other turians watched as the human squirmed and laughed until water escaped her eyes. 

Sadly, they weren’t done by the time it was lights out. Ceryx, however, held his own and it had been a fight between the two females and him for control of each hand. While the three of them were still on light duty, they agreed to meet after dinner to continue playing. Their little circle expanded from three to five even after the restrictions were lifted from them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And another to the readers, thank you as well! 
> 
> Oh and Happy Halloween! Hopefully this is a treat and not a trick. : )


	27. Chapter 27

Lily glanced down at the message that arrived shortly before her shift was over. It seemed odd and had her a little concerned. Ceryx noticed her look and stopped his work on his terminal for a moment.

“What’s the matter?”

Lily looked up. “Oh, sorry. Garrus just sent me a message and it just seems off.”

“Crap,” he said as he walked over to Lily’s station. “I thought Nalril has been ignoring you for the better part of a year now.”

“Yeah, he has. I checked and it originates from Garrus.”

“So what is the problem?”

“He says we need to talk and wants to meet before dinner. I mean, that doesn’t sound good.”

Ceryx gave a hum of sympathy. “Nothing has happened recently between you two? It’s not like he’s been distant with you lately, has he?”

Lily shook her head. “No, which is why I’m confused.”

“Perhaps he got bad news from home and he just needs someone to talk with.”

“You’re probably right, something must have happened back home. Thanks for the talk.”

“Hey, anytime. Think you two are going to be there for cards tonight?”

“I don’t know. And speaking of cards, when are you and Ligea going to stop giving each other the eye and I don’t know, talk?”

Ceryx groaned and rubbed his brow with a hand. “Well, it wasn’t too long ago that-” he began.

“Six months, and it was her loss. When I happened to mention to Ligea that Izzy broke it off with you, she seemed interested.”

“Really? What did she say?” Ceryx asked. He lifted his head to look at Lily and she nearly laughed at the sudden spark of interest in his eyes.

“I believe her words were that it was a shame that Izzy was so short-sighted.”

“That means nothing,” Ceryx said. His shoulders drooped back down.

“Bullshit!” Lily poked one finger in his direction. “It means she sees that you are a great guy, you dolt! And it wasn’t too long after that I noticed how Ligea watches you when she thinks you aren’t looking and vice versa. I’m surprised I haven’t gotten whiplash trying to keep up with you two. I may not be able to hear everything in your voices, but trust me, my eyes work just fine.”

“Well, we are due for shore leave soon. You really think-”

“Ceryx, ask her to dinner,” Lily said with a wave of a hand. “And if for some reason she says no, I’ll buy you the best dinner I can afford on the Citadel myself.”

“Alright. I’ll try and get her alone tonight and ask her. Now go and see what Garrus is all worked up about. Message me if you guys aren’t going to make cards.”

Lily gave him a salute with a grin. “Yes, sir!”

Ceryx shook his head, but couldn’t quite keep the smile off his face as he muttered, “pest.”

She dodged the vast majority of the ship’s crew heading for the mess as she made her way to meet Garrus in one of their trysting places. He hadn’t noticed her arrival yet as he stalked back and forth in the alcove. Every now and then he would stop to read something on his omni-tool. She moved towards him, but stopped just short of him.

“Garrus? What’s the matter?”

Garrus paused for a moment before he strode towards her. “My Dad sent me a message.”

“Crap. Did something happen?”

He shook his head. “No, not like you are thinking. There have been several retirements in C-Sec recently and he thinks I have a good shot at getting accepted into the program. Since we have leave on the Citadel coming up, he told me to put in my application now so they can set up testing and some other things. This way I’ll be able to get into the next recruit class.”

Lily’s brows puckered as she took in that statement. “Wait. I thought you wanted to apply for that Spectre training that’s coming up?”

Garrus sighed and one hand crept up to rub his brow. “Yeah, I did. But I got to thinking, about what my Mom said and what happened with Ceryx and Izzy.”

Lily took his hands in hers. “What did your Mom say? And what does that have to do with what happened with Ceryx?”

He didn’t answer right away; instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in until he could rest his head on the top of hers.

“My Mom said I needed to think about where I want to be and the sort of life I want. I remember when I was young -,” he began.

Lily tipped her head back so he could see how she had arched one eyebrow up at that statement. He gave a soft laugh.

“Okay, when I was _younger_. I saw vids of our most famous Spectres, Arterius and Kryik, and I thought I wanted to help people like they did. It seemed like an amazing life, but now I realize that it is probably a lonely one. I still want whatever I do to be a force for good in the galaxy, but I want time to be with you as well.”

Lily gave him a sad smile. “Well, if you go to C-Sec, any time we have is going to be less than what we have now.”

“Not if you join with me.”

Lily shook her head. “I still have to finish my service to earn citizenship.”

Garrus stroked one finger along her cheek. “As do I. C-Sec counts as serving society.”

“Maybe for you, but I don’t remember seeing anything about it counting for the client races.”

“When I find the regulations that say you can, will you come with me?” he asked. He clutched her hands in his even as he held his breath hoping she would agree.

“If it counts, yes, I’ll join C-Sec with you.”

He gave a delighted laugh and hauled her up against his chest. She returned the embrace feeling a little better; at least she knew he didn’t want to leave her behind.

“I’m happy you will come with me. Now let’s go get some dinner.”

Lily put a hand on his arm and he turned to face her, an unsaid question written across his face.

“Speaking of dinner, guess who I convinced to ask Ligea out to dinner on our next leave?”

Garrus laughed. “About damn time. I was about to smack their heads together just to make them talk to each other. Hopefully this will go better than your last attempt.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault she couldn’t deal with being apart so much! And he enjoyed it while it lasted.”

Garrus shook his head and took Lily by the elbow. “Well, I’m sure they can sort it out.”

“Yeah, but I kind of promised Ceryx that if she said no I would buy him the best meal I could while we are on the Citadel,” Lily said while she gave him a wane smile.

He chuckled at her expression. “I guess you better be right then, because if it was me I would make your credit chit scream for mercy.”

“Jerk,” Lily said, giving him a playful shove. 

***

They had barely stepped off the ship onto the docking ring of the Citadel when a voice called out to Garrus. Garrus and Lily both swiveled their heads until they spotted the turian standing near a car.

“Garrus,” his father said. He didn’t have to be loud, his voice had a command in it no one would dare disobey. 

“Dad, I wasn’t expecting you here.”

“You have an appointment with the Councilor in fifteen minutes. I knew you wouldn’t be able to make it fast enough without a car.”

“Crap. Why didn’t you make it later? Docking took longer than expected.”

Titus shook his head even as he moved to usher Garrus towards the car. “This was the only time he had available.”

Garrus thrust his bag at Lily. “Do you mind taking my gear to the room?”

“Of course not. I’ll send the details to your tool.”

He quickly brushed his forehead against hers before getting into the car where his dad was already waiting. Lily watched them rise up into the air before departing the area. Shouldering the two bags, she strolled down the walkway towards the hotel they had chosen. It felt odd to walk alone. They had thought that they would have at least today before the round of interviews and testing began for him. Well, she at least had dinner to look forward to.

Several hours later, Lily sat alone on the couch, eating from a container of takeout. Some mindless vid droned in the background, at least giving her the illusion of not being alone. Putting down the now empty dish, she looked at the message she had been trying to compose. Her mother’s notes to her had always been infrequent, but now they were getting to be downright rare.

_Hi Mom,_

_I haven’t heard from you in a while so thought I would send you a note while we are on shore leave on the Citadel. Have you given any more thought to moving here? I’m sure you could find a job here._

_And before you ask, yes, I’m still with that turian, as you put it. His name is Garrus - not as if you didn’t know it before. He’s not what you think turians are like. You should meet him before you judge him. I’ve even met his parents and that went surprisingly well. He’s applying to C-Sec and is looking into whether or not it will count for my service. If it does, then I’m going to apply as well. That’s why I mentioned that you should come here._

_This place is amazing and I think it would be good for you to see that all the different species can work together. And every time I come here there are more and more humans, so you wouldn’t feel isolated from other humans._

_Write back soon. I’ll be on the Citadel for a few days at least._

_Love,  
Lily_

With a sigh, she hit the send button. Maybe someday her mother would be able to see that the universe was an amazing place. Dropping her arm back down, she turned her attention to the vid playing. Her eyes closed as the noise washed over her.

She wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, but she felt a warm three-fingered hand ghost along the edge of her face. It gently pushed the hair that had fallen across her nose to a more respectable place behind her ear. She fought the smile that threatened to break out across her face.

“You better leave before my boyfriend shows up,” she muttered sleepily.

“Uh huh, well, he isn’t here now, is he? He a big scary krogan?” came the soft reply. 

She felt him press his mouth against her forehead and she smiled at the gesture, but still kept her eyes closed.

“Worse, he’s a turian. With a fondness for really big guns and he’ll kick your ass.”

She felt his soft laugh ruffle her hair.

“Well, he shouldn’t have left his girl all alone on shore leave then, right?”

“I’m sure he has a good reason,” she said. She opened her eyes and found him gazing down at her. “You do, don’t you?”

He nodded wearily and settled onto the couch next to her. He drew her into his arms.

“I’ve had more meetings and whatnot today than I’ve ever had in my whole life put together.”

“Ouch. How much more do you have to do?”

“I’ve got placement testing most of tomorrow. I spent the last two hours filling out forms for people to find the proper forms for a member of a client race to fill out so they can have their service in C-Sec count towards their duty to society.”

Lily laughed. “You’re joking, right? Forms to find more forms?”

Garrus sighed and leaned his head back against the sofa. “Nope, welcome to C-Sec. Have you heard from Ceryx or Ligea?”

“Not so much as a ping. No news is good news?” 

“Good. Then I don’t have to worry about him trying to lure you away while we are apart. Well, until you join me, that is.”

Lily leaned up and kissed him on the soft underside of his jaw. She felt his answering hum.

“As if you had anything to worry about. Come on; let’s go to bed before you have to leave again.”

Garrus cracked one eye open. “What about your boyfriend?”

“Well, one turian is as good as the next, right?” She gave him a grin.

“Ha! I’ll show you. Uppity human.” He surged up, grabbed her around the waist, and hoisted her over his soldier. She laughed even as her head hung down.

“Silly turian,” she said with a smack to his ass.

He responded in kind, his strides carrying them into the bedroom where he tossed her down onto the bed.

“Now I’ll show you exactly how wrong that statement was.”

Lily feigned a yawn. “Yeah, yeah. You’re all talk.”

That was the last coherent statement she made - Garrus made sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for being my beta. And another to the readers, for you know, reading! Thanks guys!


	28. Chapter 28

Lily idly played with the glass of water that sat in front of her. The restaurant had maybe half of its tables full. Garrus wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner, but at least the others of their little card playing group would be here. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area once more, looking for her friends. She nearly laughed when she spotted Creon shielding his eyes from the light even as he tried to find if anyone had beaten him to the restaurant. Lily lifted one hand and waved to him. He took the seat next to her with a sigh of relief even as he dropped his head to the table and closed his eyes.

“Rough night?” she asked, not able to keep the amusement out of her voice.

He cracked one eye open to look at her. “Shhh, not so loud. Where were you two?”

“I was waiting for Garrus and he didn’t make it back to the room until late. Did Ceryx and Ligea meet you?”

Creon snorted in amusement. 

“Spill it!”

“You want me to gossip about our friends, it will cost you.”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“Pain blockers. I’m all out,” he said softly before closing his eyes again.

She laughed again and fumbled around in her pockets. Being a human on a turian ship, she tended to carry meds for both species and especially because of a certain one whom she spent a great deal of time with. Finding the correct pills, she placed two carefully next to Creon.

“I’ve got more where those came from, so start talking!”

Creon gulped down the pills. A small sigh hissed out of him as soon as they began to take effect.

“I was the first one at the club; in fact, I was beginning to think all of you stood me up. Then the two of them showed up together; not sure where they had come from.”

“Dinner. He invited her to dinner.”

“Well, they had more than a meal together since they were carrying a couple of bags between them. Dammit, I never thought of taking a girl shopping to impress her.”

Lily gave a delighted laugh. “And?”

“Well, they were quite happy just sitting at the table with a drink and looking at the gadgets they had bought. Seriously boring to watch.”

Lily poked a finger at him. “And that’s why you have a hard time forming any connection.”

Creon snorted. “My connection with that lovely asari from last night begs to differ that point. Anyway, it wasn’t too long after that they left again, together. Some lame excuse saying that they had enough of the music. Two more pain blockers say that they went to a hotel and fucked like varren.”

Lily smacked him on the shoulder. “Creon! That was just rude. And I’ll take you up on that bet.”

He winced a little as he opened his eyes. Through the glare of the light, he spotted the pair centered in their discussion heading their way, walking very close together. He pointed a talon at the couple.

“See for yourself. Here they come. And tell me they don’t have that ‘I just had sex’ vibe. Spirits, I can practically hear their contented trills from here. Pay up, Lily.” His open hand rested on the table next to her.

Lily glanced in the direction he had pointed and spotted Ceryx and Ligea making their way towards them. There was an easy swing in their steps, one she had seen with Garrus before. Yep, those two had a very nice night if her eyes weren’t deceiving her. She fished out two more pills, handed them to Creon, and smiled at the couple as they joined them. 

“Had a little too much fun last night, Creon?” Ceryx asked.

“It only feels like too much now; last night it was just right.”

They laughed at that remark. However, the noise caused Creon to hunch back down as he covered his ears.

“How come you and Garrus stood us up?” Ligea asked as she glanced over her menu at Lily.

With a shrug, Lily replied, “He didn’t get in until very late. Hell, I fell asleep on the sofa waiting for him. I got Creon’s version of how his night went, how about you two? Have a good time?” She couldn’t keep the grin off of her face.

Ceryx ducked his head, whether out of embarrassment or trying to keep a smile off his face, Lily wasn’t sure. Ligea, however, leaned back in her chair with a big grin.

“It was good. I had a really good time,” she said as she cast her eyes over at Ceryx who smiled back at her.

“Yes, yes it was,” he added, his voice soft and obviously meant for her, as he wasn’t truly answering the question.

Nope, it wasn’t embarrassment, Lily decided. He had been trying to contain himself. Creon nudged her arm and shot her a lopsided grin.

“So is Garrus going to be able to meet us tonight?” Ligea asked, choosing to ignore whatever was not being said between Creon and Lily.

“Probably not, and since we ship out tomorrow, I don’t hold much hope for us getting to have even a meal together before we leave.”

The ping of her omni-tool gave her a moment’s hope, but upon opening it, her shoulders fell.

“Crap, he’s not going to make it, is he?” Ceryx asked.

“No, it’s not from him,” Lily answered with a shake of her head. “Victus sent out an update on our roster. Velox is being promoted and we are getting a new squad leader along with a new team member, since Garrus was accepted into C-Sec. Damn.”

“What? You didn’t want him to join?” Creon asked, his head still resting on the table.

“No, not that part. I mean about Velox. I like her and I’m happy for her, but I could end up with an asshole like Dasov.”

“Surely the Captain will take care to make sure he doesn’t have a repeat of that jerk,” Ligea said.

“I hope so, or else I’ll be praying for a miracle in the speed of paperwork retrieval. Sheesh, you’d think it wouldn’t be that hard to find a few forms.”

“The Captain values you and your skills. If he didn’t, you would have been shipped off to the reserves by now,” Ceryx added.

Lily threw him a grateful smile. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. For tonight, let’s celebrate! To friends, even those who couldn’t make it here now!”

The rest echoed her sentiment, although Creon winced a little at the level of the noise. When Ceryx’s omni-tool pinged, everyone turned to look at him.

“Changes coming in your area as well?” Lily asked.

He glanced down at whatever had just come across his tool. “Hmm, no. Uh, a personal reminder is all. Let me shut it down so it doesn’t go off again.”

His fingers flew as he typed something and shut it back down. Their waiter appeared beside Lily and the table rang with laughter as everyone tried to order at once, to the waiter’s annoyance. The amount of food that arrived a short time later had even Lily questioning their ability to put it all away. Of course, several plates belonged to her, but she noticed three in front of Ceryx.

“Hungry tonight?” she laughed as she pointed out the pile of food in front of him.

“I’m pretending to be you and, how is it you like to put it, oh yes, stocking up for when we are back in space. Besides, I see two plates in front of you,” he replied, waving a talon towards her meals.

She grinned back at him. “Glad to see I converted you to my way of thinking. I’m sure all the team building exercises we will have to do when our new LT and recruit join us will burn it all off.”

“Miss, you’ll have to come with me,” a very familiar voice said from behind her.

Lily knocked over her chair with a laugh as she scrambled to embrace Garrus. He enfolded her into his arms, but shrunk away when she smacked him on the shoulder. He released her to rub his shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be able to meet us?”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he replied as he pulled a chair up next to Lily’s and pulled two of the plates from in front of Ceryx to him.

Lily pointed a finger at Ceryx. “That wasn’t a reminder! He had you order food. You knew!”

Ceryx grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“For what? Managing to escape for a few hours to be with you guys?” Garrus laughed.

“No, for being accepted into C-Sec.”

“Damn, how did you find out? I just found out myself a few hours ago.”

“Victus sent out an updated roster just a few moments ago and it said that you had been accepted,” Lily added.

“Yeah, I just came from dropping off my stuff at my Dad’s.”

“We’ll make sure tonight is a night you won’t forget!” Creon added.

“That would be a bad idea. Tomorrow is my first day of class. So tonight is when I have to say my good-byes and keep the partying to a minimum.”

Ligea lifted her glass. “To the best chip giver I’ve ever met. I’ll miss your nightly donations!”

Garrus groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “You’re not welcome.”

The group laughed.

Ceryx nodded. “I’ll second that one!”

“I’ll remember that the next time the lot of you are on the station and looking for a place to crash.”

“Ha! We know better than to expect that. You’ll be too busy with your human detainee,” Creon said, pointing a talon at Lily.

“Hey, she might be carrying contraband. I’ve got to check her thoroughly.”

“Handcuffs - you should use those on her!”

“Thank you, I don’t think he needs any ideas. He has plenty on his own,” Lily said as she nudged Garrus with her shoulder.

Garrus gave a little cough. “How about cookies?”

“Right, that’s enough on that topic,” Lily said, giving Garrus the eye.

“Yes, let’s move on. You should see the cool things we found in the markets yesterday,” Ligea said. 

Creon groaned. “Not more tech talk.”

“For a member of the combat engineers, I’d think you would be interested in the updates we found.”

“That’s my job, not my life,” Creon said. “If I had some cards, I’d say let’s have one last night of Garrus giving us chips before we ship out.”

“I can run back to the ship and get mine. But where would we play?”

“Yeah, sorry, but not tonight; I need my rest for tomorrow.”

Creon snorted. “Right, like we believe that.”

They worked hard to keep the conversation light and there was a twinge of melancholy as the group broke apart and went their separate ways. 

***  
A small amount of light escaped from the bathroom. It would hopefully eliminate any banged toes by the occupants of the bed if they had to navigate the room in the night. The pad of Garrus’s fingers gently stroked down Lily’s back, the touch reassuring to them both. It felt weird contemplating returning to the ship without him, but tomorrow that was exactly what she would have to do. Lily snuggled in tighter to his side, breathing in his scent, trying to memorize all the little things that she would miss come tomorrow.

“It’s going to be strange being on the Intrepid without you.”

A soft hum of agreement reverberated through his chest. “It shouldn’t be too much longer before they track down those forms. And then you can go through everything I just had to do.”

Lily gave a soft laugh. “That’s not exactly an incentive, you know.”

“Hmm, good point. How about access to real food and maybe, you know, living with me? No more quick trysts in whatever corner we can find and having to sleep apart in bunk beds, no less.”

She pushed herself up to kiss the side of his neck. “Now you’re talking.”

He tucked her head under his. “You’ll see, we’ll be here together in no time at all. Even if I have to ask my father to see if he can find the damned forms.”

“Now that conversation I would love to hear about.”

Garrus laughed. “If I have to, I’ll be sure and let you know how it went.”

His arms tightened around her. He had hoped they would be entering C-Sec together, but he would make sure he used this time apart wisely. He was determined to ensure her transition into C-Sec was as smooth as possible. It would also keep him busy and help make the time go faster. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep on that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help as my beta, thank you! And another to the readers, thank you for your continued enthusiasm for this story!


	29. Chapter 29

Her steps were heavy as she made her way up the docking tube and back onto the _Intrepid_. Goodbyes had been said and promises of writing had been made, but Lily had come to the realization that this was the first time in a very long time that she didn’t have that one constant she had come to rely on in her life: Garrus. She didn’t have to report back for another hour, but there was no use hanging around the hotel when Garrus had left early this morning. So she came aboard the ship carrying her gear and the all-important stash of food that she had picked up to last her for the next few months.

She walked into the still empty barracks. She made her way over to where their bunks - scratch that, where her bunk sat. She opened her locker, but as she gazed into it she decided she needed to make a change. Opening Garrus’s now empty storage bin, she quickly shoved her stuff into it and emptied out her old one. She climbed up onto the top bunk and felt around, but found nothing she had left in it by mistake. Since the lockers were assigned by bunk, whoever was coming in to take Garrus’s spot would see that the top bunk was the empty one now. Let the recruit have that least favored top bunk. Lily hadn’t minded letting Garrus have the bottom, but she would rather not have a different turian sleeping below her. Not that it even smelled like him anymore, but maybe if she was in it she wouldn’t think it was him sleeping just below her in the night. It was the closest thing that she could say had been his.

***

A few hours later, Lily stood at attention in the hangar bay alongside her squadmates - well, what was left of the squad now. The three of them held their positions as they waited for the arrival of their newest members. They could see the shuttle approaching the ship on a nearby console screen until finally the hangar door yawned open and the smaller vessel was able to enter. Although her face gave every indication of impassive disinterest, inside her emotions churned as she contemplated what this change in command meant for her. 

The shuttle door lifted and out stepped Captain Victus, followed by two new turians. One of his aides rushed up to him.

“Sir, there is an urgent call on your private terminal, sir.”

“Thank you. LT. Iovis, I’ll touch base with you later.”

The older of the two turians saluted. “Of course, sir.”

The younger one fell in beside Lily at the end of the line. Iovis stood in front of them and pulled up something on his omni-tool before scanning their faces once more. 

“This is your new squadmate, Pvt. Filon. The three of you have had quite a few successful missions together - good. It shouldn’t take too much time to get Filon here up to speed. The Captain expects a quiet patrol for at least a little while, so let’s head down to the sim room and get some practice in. Filon will be paired with Relmos against Serlo and Shepard. Any questions?”

“No, sir,” they said in unison.

“Good. Filon, go stow your gear and report down to the sim room. The rest of you head there immediately.”

“Yes, sir,” they said with a sharp salute and headed off to their assigned destinations.

Once they were out of hearing range of their new LT., Serlo threw a grin at Relmos.

“Guess who is going down? Stuck with the new rookie!” Serlo laughed.

“You never know; Shepard and Vakarian were rookies once as well,” Relmos said with a shrug.

“Fine, you got me there. I guess we’ll have to see, but this time Victus didn’t personally go pick this guy out. We had to have him shipped to us!”

“I’m sure he’s good, he just needs a little experience. The Captain probably didn’t want to break up our patrol route is all.”

The prospect of breaking in a raw recruit didn’t thrill him; he had rather hoped that Serlo or Shepard had gotten tagged with that duty. Not much he could do about the assignment now; hopefully Filon would be ready for whatever those two threw at them.

The room stood empty, but their new squad leader stood at the control panel, waiting for them. How he had gotten there ahead of them, they had no idea. At their questioning looks, he just smiled. He waved them into the chamber and they checked over the special weapons for the exercise. They each picked out their favorites and were checking them over when Filon hurried to join them inside. Serlo and Shepard had selected their rifles and pistols as their close range weapons, while Relmos favored the assault rifle for his secondary weapon. The three of them waited as Filon looked over the weapons and finally picked up a shotgun as his alternate weapon.

Relmos cocked his head and gauged the younger turian’s selection. “Interesting choice.”

Filon smiled. “If they are close enough that I have to switch, I prefer to maximize the amount of damage I do.”

Serlo and Shepard moved to the opposite side of the room even as they talked in low voices. Relmos saw his gaze follow their opponents.

“Well, kid, I hope you are good because otherwise those two will eat us alive.”

Filon snorted in amusement. “A human, really?”

“Others have made that mistake, don’t judge her until you see her in action. Do you think she would still be here if she didn’t pass muster with the Captain? Trust me, on a mission there is no one I’d rather have backing me up than those two.”

“Alright, for this first round I will be switching up the variables even as both teams try to eliminate each other while dealing with more enemies as well. After this exercise is finished, you will get a ten minute break before the next one,” Iovis stated, his voice echoing about the empty room.

Both pairs dove for cover as the room changed to an abandoned city block with opponents popping up around them. Lily shot Serlo a grin.

“Well, this is going to be fun.”

“Damn straight!”

The day went fast between all the exercises that Iovis threw at them. Something that Lily was grateful for.

***

Victus nodded to his people as he marched towards his quarters. An urgent message on his private terminal was never a sign of anything good. He clicked open his console and found the face of a Spectre staring back at him, his cream colored colony marks in stark contrast against his dark face. His mandibles gave only a hint of a twitch before he began speaking.

“Captain Victus, I need an evac at the following coordinates. I have information that I need to discuss in person with you ASAP.”

“Of course, Spectre,” he began, but the connection had already been severed.

Was that smoke he saw behind Kryik? Something big was up if a Council Spectre was involved. He opened the comm to his pilot.

“I’m sending you some coordinates. Inform the patrol we are heading there with all due haste.”

“Right away, Captain!”

“What’s our ETA?”

“Five hours, sir.”

“Alert the ground teams that we have a Spectre to recover and to be prepped and in the shuttle bay in four hours. Also contact me if anything unusual is spotted in the area. Anything at all, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. Victus out.”

He opened up the star map for this sector and found the coordinates that Kryik had given him and looked for anything that might draw the attention of a Council Spectre. This area held nothing of value that he could see. He pulled up his personal log and found that so far they had never encountered anything of interest in this sector. He shut down his personal console and left his quarters and headed for the bridge.

The hours crept by as the patrol could only go as fast as its slowest member, which in this case was his vessel. He thought of sending the frigates ahead to secure the area, but hesitated to separate the patrol just in case whatever took down Kryik was still nearby.

“Sir, we are within shuttle range of the coordinates.”

Victus looked up from the report he was filling out to find his second waiting beside him.

“Good,” he said with a nod towards her. “I want three shuttles deployed, a full squad of soldiers on board each one. Better make sure at least a few medics are along as well. No telling what they might find down there.”

“Right away, sir!” she said with a salute, already barking orders into her own comm.

***

The tropical sun overhead caused sweat to drip down Lily’s neck and back, making her want to twitch, but she didn’t dare move a muscle as she was lying in wait for either Relmos or Filon to move into view. She nearly jumped when Iovis’s voice rang out and their scenario dissolved. She looked up to see it was Relmos who had nearly moved into her line of sight. 

“We have a mission. Get your gear and be in the shuttle bay in five minutes.”

Relmos threw her a grin. “Looks like I’ll escape this time.”

“Pfft. I call it a hit because you were totally going down,” Lily laughed.

They moved as a unit, tossing the sim weapons down on the table and exiting the room. Out in the main corridor, they joined with other soldiers as they all jogged towards the armory. 

“Wow. My first day and we get a mission,” Filon said. 

His enthusiasm had Lily cocking her head to stare at him. _‘Were we ever that green?’_ she thought to herself.

Serlo snorted. “If you want to survive better than you did in the sim room, keep your head down and do as we say.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Serlo, it’s just Serlo. I work for a living,” she muttered with a shake of her head.

It only took them a few moments to check out their weapons and once more they were swept up in the wave of soldiers headed to the shuttle bay. Iovis stood next to a shuttle. Upon spotting them he waved a hand towards another vessel.

“Serlo, Shepard - you’re in that one. Relmos and Filon - you’re with me. Our orders are to provide cover if needed, so keep your eyes open.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

Soldiers piled into their assigned ships for the ride down to the planet’s surface, for that is where Kryik had sent them. The creaking of the metal as they entered the atmosphere alerted the troops that they were nearing their destination. The doors opened up and the officers were yelling at them to move out. They poured out of the vessel, similar events occurring around them as the other shuttles discharged their occupants. Serlo and Shepard broke off from the main force as they looked for any high ground to scout out the area. The region they had landed in was fairly flat and desolate. The small ship their shuttles had landed around had scorch marks and even some holes punched into its side. It wasn’t going anywhere ever again. 

The owner of the vehicle exited his ship with a bag thrown across each shoulder. Ignoring the soldiers that formed a protective shield around him, he headed for one of the shuttles. A few orders and once more they were all piling back into the shuttles. Lily only got a glimpse of the stranger and all she could tell was that he was male and turian. Whoever he was, it was obvious he was important since the Captain had sent so many of them to make sure they retrieved him alive. Now that they were on their way back to their ships, well, he was about to become someone else’s problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help as my beta, thank you! And another to the readers for all their support, thank you!


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another thank you to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And another to the readers for all the support, I appreciate it! I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holidays, however you choose to celebrate. And on that note, I don't know when the next chapter will be posted as I have out of town family showing up for the Holidays. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy todays offering!

Lily looked up from her cards, eyeing her friends. She had been losing pretty steadily all night - her heart was just not in the game.

“So what is your new squad leader like?” Creon asked, popping one of the odd little raisin-looking things he had brought back from the Citadel into his mouth.

“Okay, so far. He didn’t really say much, well, except to Filon- the new guy. And him, well, I got to shoot him a couple of times. Serlo as well.”

Ceryx snatched one of the snacks out of the bowl beside Creon. “That doesn’t bode well for him.”

Creon glared at him and his thievery. “Yeah, but at least he isn’t your partner.”

“True. He’s a good enough shot, he just doesn’t think out of the box much so he kept walking into our line of sight. I’m sure Relmos will get him straightened out in no time at all. Now, what I want to know is, who was it we picked up off of that rock.” 

Ligea leaned forward to steal one of Creon’s treats as well. “I can answer that. I have a friend who was on the shuttle he rode back on. That was none other than Spectre Nihlus Kryik.”

Something about how she said it had Ceryx gazing over at her. “Really? You too?”

“What?” Lily asked, looking between them.

Ligea gave a guilty laugh. “You have to admit he is good-looking and, well, he _is_ a Spectre.”

“Spectre Kryik is a bit of a popular figure between his deeds and, well, he is considered to be attractive by just about anyone. Spirits, they even tried to get him to do a spread in Fornax,” Creon added.

Lily laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Creon said with a grin. “He turned it down, saying that he was flattered, but that wasn’t exactly how he wanted to portray the Spectres.”

Ligea must have realized how what she had said sounded, because she reached over and covered Ceryx’s hand with her own and gave him a smile. Lily wished once more that she could hear what they were conveying to each other, since that seemed to ease any issue between them.

“Right, enough of the sappy stuff you two, save it for later,” Creon said.

“And on that note I think I’ll call it a day. Between all the combat sims and an actual drop - I’m exhausted. I’ll catch you guys later,” Lily said as she stood up from the table.

“Yeah, we might as well call it. It’s almost lights out anyway,” Ceryx said.

Creon snatched up his bowl and followed Lily out of the little room where their games took place. Lily almost stopped to help Ceryx and Ligea pick up everything, but Creon leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Don’t worry, this just gives them time to have some make-up sex before lights out.”

“Good point, now I don’t feel so bad.”

Creon continued munching on his food while they walked, giving Lily plenty of time to think. Perhaps too much time. Turians still moved about the barracks, but already they were beginning to settle down in their bunks. Her old one held the new recruit. It appeared as if he was reading something on a datapad. Placing her armor in her locker, she fell into Garrus’s old spot. Filon leaned over the edge and peered down at her.

“Hey Shepard, I didn’t know you were the one below me.”

“Yeah, Filon, I am. Settling in okay?”

“Yes, thanks. Still seems weird, you know? And it doesn’t help that I kept getting shot in the sim room.”

Lily gave a soft laugh at the embarrassment in his voice. “Serlo and I have been working together for a while now. We could see by the way you moved; all stiff like, you’re trying to work through some procedure in your head. Protocol should come as second nature and not something you need to check off while in combat. Trust me, our enemies checklist is pretty much just _kill them all_.”

Filon chuckled. “I’ll try and keep that in mind. Relmos pretty much said the same thing, though he used more colorful language at the time.”

“I bet he did. Good night, Filon.”

“Yeah, you too, Shepard.”

Lily turned to her omni-tool. There was one more thing she wanted to do before light’s out.

_Hey G,_

_It feels weird not having you here. The replacements in the squad seem okay, so far. We ran a lot of sims today and even had a mission - okay, it only qualified as a mission because we went to a planet and picked up someone. Turns out it was a Spectre. Ligea said someone told her it was Nihlus Kryik. Whoever shot his ship out of the sky didn’t find him though because we were barely on the ground and then we returned to the shuttles with him. Good thing there was no actual shooting, because the new recruit is still trying to go through some sort of mental checklist while in combat. Of course, that just meant I got to shoot him a few times during the sim runs. I know...bad human, picking on the poor little turian!_

_And speaking of bad human, I made him take my bunk and I took yours. There is only one turian I want under me and that’s you. Or on top of me, or beside me...well, you get the idea! Oh, the wicked, wicked things I plan to do to you when we make it back to the Citadel! I’d go into details, but no telling who might see this message. I’m sure you have plenty enough ideas on your own. Ha!_

_How is your training going? And more importantly how are things with your dad? I only got a terse reply from my mom, pretty much saying I should return home.  
It’s about time for lights out, so I’ll close this. I miss you and I hope they find those forms soon; it just doesn’t seem the same here without you._

_Yours,  
Lily_

She hit the send button and hoped it would find him well wherever he was.

***  
She pushed the paste around her plate for a moment before forcing herself to take a bite. 

“That bad?” Ceryx asked.

“Yes, I think they outdid themselves this time with a new level of disgusting.”

“There are still bars down in the engineering room.”

Ligea nudged her side. “Looks like the new guy is heading for us.” 

Lily looked up and saw Filon standing with his tray in hand. Unsure of where to go, he hesitated near where their group sat. Taking pity on the new guy, she waved him over.

“Hey, Filon, come sit down.”

He slid gratefully into a chair next to Ceryx. He gazed around at the small group of turians around the only human on the ship. One by one they introduced themselves, starting with the dark brown one he sat next to.

“Ceryx Roka, engineer.”

The female next to Lily gave him a nod. “Ligea Tylial, combat engineer.”

The male on the other side of Roka waved a single talon at him. “Creon Eldon, combat engineer.”

“Hi. Torick Filon, recon scout.”

The one called Eldon grinned over at him. “Heard you got shot a couple of times in the sim room.”

Filon groaned and rubbed his head. “Yeah, a few. I’m not sure what was worse; getting nailed so many times or having my partner yell at me before starting to laugh.”

“That is a toss-up,” Lily said with a chuckle.

Filon turned his attention to his food while he took in the chatter around him. He nearly jumped when his omni-tool pinged. Lily just groaned and opened it up.

“Looks like another mission. Wonder if this one will be another pickup?” She stood up and took her tray. “Come on, Filon. We don’t want to be late.”

He shoveled in his last bite and followed the human as they dumped their remains and headed for the armory. The other half of their squad strode a few steps ahead of them, but slowed to let them catch up. After collecting their weapons, they made their way to the hangar bay as instructed. Their squad leader and the one Lily now knew was the Spectre stood next to a shuttle, waiting for them. They followed them onto the ship and took their seats as they waited for their orders. As soon as the vessel had left the cruiser, the Spectre pulled up a map on a console.

“I’ve sent a copy of this to your omni-tools. I need to find the location of a base on this planet. There are two areas I suspect they are at, but I can’t check them both out fast enough by myself. If you do find it, notify me and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Iovis nodded. “To that end, we will be dropping Team one - Serlo and Relmos - at one of the more likely areas. Kryik will be taking the other. Team two - Shepard and Filon, we will be dropping you somewhere that should be relatively safe. Shepard, I want you to give him some training about what to look for, but not in a hotspot. If you see anything remotely suspicious, contact me immediately. Any questions?”

“No, sir,” they said.

Lily felt a tiny bit disappointed she wasn’t to be part of the team helping Kryik, but she assumed that their LT felt she was good enough to train the new guy, which was gratifying. And she couldn’t wait to tell Garrus that they had an actual Spectre on board and had been involved with his mission. 

“Shepard, Filon - you’re up first.”

Lily stood up and checked her weapon. Filon followed suit and then the shuttle door opened and they jumped out. Several miles away and Relmos and Serlo were deployed, leaving Iovis and Kryik.

Nihlus rechecked his weapon. “Far be it for me to tell you how to run your op, but I don’t know if you should have separated your people.”

“Ordinarily I would agree with you, but you didn’t see how many times Filon was ‘killed’ in the sim room yesterday. No, he needs some field training with minimal risk, and since Shepard shot him the most times, he should listen to her.”

Nihlus nodded. “Good call then. With any luck, I’ll find their base first.”

“Good hunting, Kryik,” Iovis said as he watched the Spectre drop out of the shuttle.

***

Lily led Filon over the rough terrain. Only a few rocks here and there across the landscape provided any cover. Filon stepped where she did and stopped when she did. They crouched behind a small pile of rocks even as Lily gazed about looking for anything better.

“Keep your eyes open for anything that looks out of place, be it a rock or something artificial looking. And assume you’re in somebody’s cross-hairs at all times.”

“Yes, Shepard. I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get set down with the others,” Filon began.

“I know, but he doesn’t want to throw your life away,” Lily answered with a shake of her head.

Filon nodded and tried to shrink down even further behind the rocks they were behind. His eyes stole glances around them in between waiting for Lily to make a move. 

“You know, I thought other planets would be uh, more interesting.”

Lily barked out a laugh. “From what I’ve seen most are barren rocks. Merc groups seem to like them because there is little traffic that might discover them there. We did have one mission where a group of them managed to take over a small colony. I’ll have to tell you about that one when we get back.”

“Wow, that must have been exciting!”

Lily took another look around. Nothing moved that she could see, but it would be quite a sprint to the next set of rocks. She turned to look at Filon.

“Ready?”

“Ready!”

She shot out of cover, Filon close behind her. The sound of twin shots had barely registered in her brain when pain blossomed on her left side. She went down in a heap. Breathing heavily, she turned her head to see Filon was sprawled next to her, not moving. Her hand scrabbled over the button for her comm. 

Pressing it, she began speaking rapidly, “Need immediate backup. Team two is down.”

Only static answered her. The hand that was still responding to her commands found the grip of her pistol and she pulled it out. Gritting her teeth, she managed to begin the process of getting to her feet. Something connected with the back of her head and she went down with a yelp. A foot pressed down on the hand clutching her gun, forcing her to release it.

“A human?” a voice above her asked. 

“Trust me. They are both wearing hierarchy armor. I would know it anywhere. And you weren’t supposed to kill him, asshole.”

“Oops.”

Another hit to her head and she slipped gratefully into darkness.


	31. Chapter 31

Iovis swore under his breath and activated his comm unit once more. “Shepard, Filon - report!”

Only the crackling of static answered his order. 

“Team One - report!”

“Nothing here, sir. Should we head towards Team Two?”

“Negative, rendezvous at the coordinates, we are en route to pick you up.”

“Yes, sir.”

An incoming ping announced the arrival of a message; trying to open it he discovered that it was a heavily encrypted one. He had a short wait while his programs did their job and the words finally appeared before him.

_Heard that Team Two is not reporting in. Heading there on foot. Nothing here. Message me if you find anything. - Kryik_

Iovis cursed once more as the shuttle flew along the contours of the ground. It hurtled along until they reached the designated location. He opened the door and saw his team moving towards the ship. He had his rifle up and kept his eyes moving, looking for anything that might threaten them. He wasn’t going to lose any more of his people if he could help it. The shuttle dipped to one side when the pair jumped aboard. He rapped on the wall and the shuttle took off again, barely before they got the door closed.

Relmos and Serlo stayed silent as the ship rocketed along. Relmos dipped one hand into the storage container full of heat sinks and tried to stuff a few more in various compartments in his armor. Nothing would go in and he carelessly dropped them back in their storage bin. Serlo checked her weapon once more, even though it hadn’t even been fired yet. 

“I want you two covering me while I try and figure out where our missing team is,” Iovis said.

“Yes, sir.” 

The shuttle slowed and finally stopped. Iovis threw open the door and leaped out; Relmos and Serlo were only a step behind him. Iovis knelt down to look for footprints left by Team Two while Relmos and Serlo turned slowly around him, scanning for anything that registered as a threat. They continued creeping along in this manner until Iovis’s swearing broke the concentration of Team One. They spared a quick glance downward at their Lt and saw him scanning the earth with his omni-tool. Earth that was damp on an arid world and colored in shades from reds to blues and in between. 

He knelt near the stains and his fingers flew across the keys on his omni-tool.

_Found large quantity of blood, but no bodies. - I_

A few seconds later a message came in.

_Possible they can break comm encryptions from the missing bodies? - K_

_Unlikely, but yes. - I_

_Make them think the patrol is retreating for now. I need more time to infiltrate their base. - K_

_Understood. - I_

“Fuck!” Iovis growled out as he climbed to his feet. “Back to the shuttle now.”

“Yes, sir!”

He jogged away from the vibrantly colored dirt that lay behind him. There was so much of it and the overlapping indicated they went down side by side. His scouts flanked him as he moved and together they raced towards their vessel. They had barely climbed aboard before Iovis pounded one fist against the wall to the cockpit.

“Back to the _Intrepid_ ,” Iovis barked out.

He moved up to stand behind the pilot. 

“Connect me to the Captain,” Iovis said.

“Right away, sir.”

The face of Victus appeared on the console. “Report, Lt.”

“Lost Team Two, sir. Returning to the _Intrepid_. Need to replace them before we can complete our mission, sir.”

Victus nodded. “I want a full report in person when you land, Lt.”

“Of course, sir.” Iovis said. He sighed and rubbed his head. Two days in charge of his new squad and he had already lost half of them. Whatever intel the Spectre had, it had been wrong and his people had paid the price.

Serlo and Relmos took off their helmets and sat staring at nothing, their expressions identical - mandibles pulled tightly against their faces. The shuttle settled down on the flight deck of the _Intrepid_. Iovis looked up at them.

“Write up your reports, and send a copy to myself and the Captain. After that, the day is yours.”

“Sir, could they still be alive?” Relmos asked.

Serlo’s eyes caught his and she nodded in agreement.

“Unlikely,” Iovis said with a shake of his head. “They probably took the bodies to scavenge gear and to try and hack into our comm systems.”

“I hope the Spectre lets us take part in their destruction. We owe them,” Serlo growled out.

Relmos’s subtones hummed in agreement as he followed Serlo out of the vessel. The pair stopped to throw a salute at the Captain who strode towards their shuttle with an air of urgency about him. He disappeared inside and a few seconds later the pilot had exited the vehicle, leaving the Lt and the Captain alone.

“Glad I’m not in there,” Relmos muttered as they headed towards the interior of the ship.

“Come on, the sooner we finish that report, the sooner we can go partake in some violence in the combat room,” Serlo said, anger humming in her voice.

Relmos grunted an agreement and together they disappeared into the heart of the ship.

***  
Iovis stood at attention when the Captain marched inside the shuttle. He supposed this was as good a place as any to get yelled at since everyone had quickly disappeared, leaving them alone. Victus’s eyes roamed around the interior of the shuttle while Iovis waited.

“I don’t see the bodies. Where are they and what happened down there?”

“The Spectre,” Iovis spat out, “well, his guesses were wrong and I dropped Shepard and Filon too close to that base he is trying to find.”

“Lieutenant.”

Iovis bowed his head. “Sorry, sir. Team One - Relmos and Serlo - were set down at one of the two places the Spectre thought the pirates were at. He took the other. I placed Team Two - Filon and Shepard - down some place I thought was far enough away from the other spots that she could give him some practical field lessons.”

“What did you find?”

“I scanned large quantities of blood near where they were dropped. If they were alive, it wouldn’t be for long. The Spectre requested we leave. He wants them to think we are retreating so he can infiltrate their base.”

“Filon wasn’t ready for an actual mission?”

“No, sir. I don’t think he is - was. But I thought being outside the sim room might help him focus.”

“I want your full report before the end of the shift. Go clean out their lockers. I’ll write the letters to their families and make sure their names are recorded in the annals of the unit.”

Iovis saluted. “Yes, sir.”

***

Creon rushed to the barracks before the evening meal. He needed to find that datapad to give back to Ceryx. The one he was supposed to return last week. He dug through his locker and pulled it out with a shout. Now he wouldn’t get yelled at, again. He turned to leave, but something caught his eye. His head swung back towards what was off in the room. His eyes widened when he took in the two lockers with their doors slightly open. 

“Fuck,” he muttered to no one.

He strode across the room and stood in front of the offending objects. With the tip of a talon he swung the door to Lily’s locker all the way open. Nothing remained inside of it. He grabbed hold of the other door and slammed it open. It, too, was barren. One hand idly rubbed the back of his head. There must be some mistake. His gaze fell on the bunks, and he found that they had both been stripped of their bedding. He let go of the door and somehow his legs knew where to go and he found himself in the mess hall. 

Ligea and Ceryx sat together, trays in front of them. Creon dropped the datapad in front of Ceryx, drawing the couple’s attention to himself. He more or less fell into a chair across from them.

“Thanks,” Ceryx began, but stopped at the vacant expression in Creon’s eyes. “What?”

“Lily,” Creon said. His voice quavered a bit before he regained control of it. “And that new guy, Filon. Their lockers have been emptied out.”

“Someone stole their stuff!” Ligea growled.

Creon shook his head. “No, their bunks have been stripped. They’re gone.”

Ceryx’s head bobbed around as he searched for the remaining members of the recon squad. Relmos and Serlo were sitting together, but instead of the boisterous laughter they usually had after a successful mission, the pair’s heads hung down and they merely pushed their food around.

“No,” Ceryx said softly. “Not Lily. There must be a mistake.”

“I don’t think so.”

The Captain’s voice came over the loudspeakers. Ceryx only vaguely heard the words. Something about the loss of two crew members and how their names would be added to the annals of the unit. _How had this happened? She was good, so good in combat. How many sims had he run with her and she just always seemed to be in control of anything it ever threw at them. She must have been trying to protect Filon. That was so like her._

“Oh, no. That doesn’t seem possible.” Ligea covered her face with one hand. Being a soldier, you knew there would come a time when you would lose someone you knew, but this was more personal - a friend.

The solid weight of a hand on her shoulder brought her head up to find Ceryx offering her some small measure of comfort. She would never have met him, or probably even given him the time of day if not for Lily and Garrus. 

“Oh, poor Garrus - who is going to tell him?” Ligea asked.

Ceryx sighed. “I guess I should, since I’ve known them both the longest. Damn, how do I tell him she is gone?”

Ligea grasped his hand. “It’s better than him not finding out and just thinking she is not answering his messages.”

He nodded and reluctantly pulled up the interface on his omni-tool and began plucking away at it. 

No one was interested in playing cards that night.

***

A faint prick and the haze that shrouded Lily’s mind began to lift. It was then she remembered what had happened. Voices spoke around her.

“I patched her up enough so that she will live until we are done.”

“Good.”

A shake on her injured side brought a groan from her and a dark laugh from whoever did it.

“See, she’s waking up already.”

Lily opened her eyes to a salarian and a human standing on either side of her. She brought up her good arm to scratch her nose and found it moved freely. _Play stupid, Shepard. No smart remarks. Make them think you are weak and maybe we’ll get out of this long enough to warn the patrol._

She let her head flop to one side, her eyes wide with what she hoped was sufficient fear. The human tossed his head towards the door and the salarian took the cue and departed. He took a few steps closer to Lily, but not quite close enough. 

“What were you doing out there?”

Her eyes rolled around as they darted about the room. “Routine training mission. Where is my partner?”

With the back of his hand he slapped her across the face. “I’ll ask the questions here and if I don’t like your answers you’ll end up like him, dead. And I’m not buying that whole training thing,” he snarled at her. 

He thrust his face in closer to hers, causing her to recoil as far as the table would let her. His teeth were bared in a very unfriendly manner. But he was finally close enough now.

Her left side still ached, but she threw everything she could muster behind her right hand and punched him in the throat. He staggered back. Ignoring the pulling of her left side, she leapt after him. Now she was the one wearing the feral grin. She slammed into him and taking a move from Garrus she flung her head against his. They fell to the floor in a heap. Hopefully, no one was near enough to hear the noise. He was still gasping as she stood up, her legs straddled around him. Taking his head in her hands, she twisted it with a sudden and sharp motion. An audible crack could be heard and she carefully laid his now lifeless body down.

She winced as she stood back up. She glanced down at the bandage that had been placed on her mid-section; a little red was beginning to seep into it, but it still held. Another, smaller bandage was over where her omni-tool implant was. She poked at the area and hissed in pain, but no interface came up. Sighing, she reached down and felt along the sides of the body at her feet and found a pistol - her pistol. She gazed around the room, but no other obvious weapons were lying about for her and there was no sign of her armor. A few bloody bandages had been thrown carelessly in a heap in a waste bin. In another corner lay the remains of her blood soaked undersuit, slash marks indicating they had cut it off of her. Running around in just her underwear was not high on her list of things she wanted to do. She eyed up the dead man at her feet. He was far too broad in the shoulders and several inches taller than her; his armor would swim on her and be more of a hindrance than a help. She rummaged around some of the drawers and found some pain meds and quickly took a few; the pills hung in her throat but she managed to get them all the way down finally. There was nothing else of use in here, so she headed for the door. 

The hall was more non-descript metal with a few doors along it. No markings of any sort anywhere; the whole place appeared to be constructed out of whatever they had been able to salvage. She looked up and down the corridor, but nobody seemed to have heard the fight. She eased out and into the hallway, her back pressed against the cold metal. She crept along, listening for any signs of movement from anywhere. Her luck held out until she came to an intersection. 

She was just about to start moving, but froze when she heard a faint movement down one of the halls that had her gripping her gun before she lunged out, ready to shoot whoever was near. The noise had been closer than she had thought. Her gun pointed at a turian and his was pointed at her. 

“Shepard, right?”

“Spectre Kryik?”

They lowered their guns together and then she flushed when she took in his amused look.

“A little flamboyant for recon work, isn’t that? They don’t look like standard issue either?”

“If I had known this morning I would be sneaking around a merc base in my skivvies, I would have worn something more suitable, like black instead of hot pink, and standard issue is terribly scratchy.”

“I’m sure,” Nihlus said with a soft huff. “We thought you were dead. Your partner?”

“He’s dead,” she said with a shake of her head, her voice soft.

“Find anything of use?”

“Just my gun,” she said, lifting the weapon up. “I was trying to find a comm room or something so I can contact the patrol. The assholes even took my omni-tool implant.”

“Negative, I need intel from these ‘assholes’ as you put it. Word is they have at least one more base and are planning to hit a colony, but I’ve been unable to find out any specifics. No, we get the information and then destroy this place. Think you can keep up?”

Lily threw him a grin. “Just call me the pink commando.”

He shook his head, stifling the laugh. He noticed the bandage along her middle, white with a red blotch marring its surface. If she was willing to fight on then he would let her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and another for you readers for still, you know, reading! Thank you!


	32. Chapter 32

Lily glanced over at Nihlus even as she matched his steps down the hall. He must have felt her gaze on him because his eyes met hers for a moment and then his hand flew up and he gave her the sign to flank the door that was several feet ahead of them. She nodded and moved into position, her gun held at the ready. He stood opposite her and at her nod, his palm smacked the button and the door slid open. 

Together, they aimed their guns inward. The three occupants of the room, who were sitting in front of terminals, looked up and turned towards the door when it opened. The human’s right hand drifted downward. Nihlus leveled his gun at the man’s head. 

“Don’t.”

He gulped as he pulled his hand back up and put it up in the air. Nihlus flicked a mandible towards the trio and Lily stepped closer to them. She pointed her pistol at the nearest asari’s head.

“Slowly put your guns on the floor and if I even see a hint of a blue sparkly about any of you, I’m shooting, and trust me, at this range I won’t be missing.”

Each movement was slow and precise as they removed their weapons and placed them on the floor. Lily skidded the weapons towards him and he took a few steps forward until he could shut the door behind him. 

Nihlus stepped closer to the trio. “Now, which one of you is in charge?”

He smiled as he took in that two of them darted their eyes toward the third: the only human. He had expected one of the two asari to be higher up the food chain - not that he thought he would get lucky enough to find the boss.

“Well, your associates seem to be of the opinion you are in charge. So, perhaps you would like to tell me where your bases are located?”

“Fuck you,” the human said. His eyes narrowed at the unlikely pair in front of him.

Nihlus nodded. “Right; well, I guess that does mean you _do_ have at least one more base. Shepard, secure the door.”

Lily stepped back, leaving Nihlus to cover their prisoners, and pulled open the interface for the door. She rested one foot over the other in a vain attempt to keep the cold from seeping into her any more than it already had. She pressed her lips tightly together to keep her teeth from chattering.

Nihlus’s eyes darted over to her and then narrowed at one of the asari who had been slowly shifting towards his partner. He moved to stand in front of Lily while she worked. 

“Done. They won’t be getting through that any time soon.”

“Good job. Alright you three, I want you to slowly stand up and get down on your knees with your hands laced behind your head.”

They did as ordered until he motioned to the asari who had moved earlier.

“You. Take off your leathers and toss them over in that corner.” His gun pointed to the corner opposite where their guns currently were sitting.

“What?” Her eyes widened and she clutched at her top.

He huffed a little laugh and shook his head. “My companion needs something to wear, and since we haven’t been able to find her armor, yours will have to do for now. Do it willingly or I’ll shoot you and then she’ll remove it.”

The other two sat and watched as she did as ordered and then moved to kneel on the hard metal floor with the other two. Lily stepped over to the discarded armor and set about donning the new gear. She pulled the pants on first. She grimaced a little as she forced her feet into the boots and tucked the ends of the pants into the tops of the boots. The chest piece hung a little loose on her and she was forced to tuck that into the pants as well. 

Fully dressed, she placed her pistol on her hip and went to the pile of weapons and pulled out the least battered looking assault rifle. Her fingers checked to make sure nothing was jammed or out of place. Finding it adequate enough, she turned back to Nihlus and their prisoners.

“All set, sir. I, uh, could take a look at their system for the information you need.”

Nihlus glanced over at her. Even though the asari’s armor wasn’t quite a perfect fit, her lips were losing that bluish color at least. “Do it.”

Lily moved to the terminal that the human had been sitting at and eased into the seat before it. 

“You’re wasting your time and it won’t be long before you are found out,” the man said, half of his top lip tilted upward in an odd grin.

Lily ignored his ranting, her focus solely on the machine before her. Nihlus bared his own teeth at the man.

“If you’re going to show your teeth, at least have something worthwhile to look at. Now shut up or I’ll do it for you.”

His lip fell as he pursed them together and settled back into silence. Nihlus allowed glances around the room before returning to scrutinize their prisoners. A roll on one shelf caught his eye.

“Shepard, come watch them for a moment.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lily stood up and grabbed the rifle before taking the spot where Nihlus had been standing. She kept her eyes on their captives, ignoring the sounds of Nihlus moving about. He returned after only a moment, holding his prize in one hand. She grinned when she realized what he had found.

“Duct tape,” she said with a laugh.

“I love this stuff.” 

He cut off a long strip for each of their mouths, before moving to secure their hands and legs. He stood back and studied his handiwork for a moment. His head bobbed once before he turned to Lily.

“Now, have you found anything?”

“Almost through this last firewall.”

Lily slid back into the chair and she returned to breaking through their protection. He sat at one of the other workstations and tried to find the information he needed. The first barrier fell relatively quickly from his efforts.

“Got it! Here are coordinates for a second base in the next star system,” Lily said. “Oh, no. They plan on hitting the colony located there - Mindoir.”

Nihlus caught the slight change in pitch of her voice at that last statement. He pulled out an OSD and attached it to the terminal where Lily worked.

“Download everything onto that and we can see about destroying this place.”

Lily nodded and did as he ordered. “Are you going to contact the patrol to bomb this place from orbit?”

“No. I don’t want to take a chance that their other base finds out and go to ground. We need to take care of them on site.”

“Well, uh, sir, I may have an idea on how to blow this base up.”

“How?”

“While going through their systems I noticed that they are basically using what used to be a ship’s drive core for their power supply. I can put up a dummy screen that’s green across the board and disable the alarms before I overload their core.”

He tapped one talon against his jaw. “Are you sure you can do that?”

She nodded. “I work in the engine room on the Intrepid. My mentor likes going over worst case scenarios and with some of the tricks my friends taught me, well, I should be able to fool them.”

“Excellent! How much time does that give us to get out of here?”

“Fifteen minutes, tops. I didn’t spot - ,” she began.

He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got that covered. You work on making the false information and I’ll start on disabling the alarms. And then we get set to blow this place up.”

She nodded and they went to work. Lily glanced up now and then to make sure their ‘guests’ weren’t up to anything and she noticed Nihlus doing the same. 

“Done,” she said. 

She leaned over to see where he was on his end. He kept his gaze on the screen until he leaned back.

“All set. Blow this place. I’ll make sure our guests won’t be getting out of their bonds.”

Lily nodded and started implementing their plan. When she looked up next, Nihlus stood waiting at the door. 

“Ready?”

“Do it.”

One last command and the station would soon be no more. She grabbed the rifle and what few heat sinks she could find before joining Nihlus. He had been busy and the panel on the door was already green. He took point and eased out into the hallway, Lily only a step behind him.

“I found their hangar on the way in. All we have to do is get there and grab a ship.”

“Uh, Spectre, I think we only have about ten minutes.”

Nihlus spared a glance in her direction. “I know, I saw your screen.”

“I wanted them to think they had more time, just in case they managed to get free.”

He nodded. “A sound decision.”

A side door slid open and a turian walked out. Her eyes widened for a moment before she yelled something and opened fire on them as she leapt back through the door. With the element of surprise gone, Nihlus and Lily fired back. Other shouts could be heard, but no general claxon went off. 

“Straight ahead and take a right at the first intersection,” Nihlus said. He removed a grenade and threw it in the room where the turian had ducked into. 

Lily nodded and broke into a trot, her eyes never staying in one spot. Each obstacle in their path received only as many shots as needed to remove them. The Spectre never seemed rushed or hurried and Lily found that a source of strength. Her steps began to falter a little, but she never stopped. Nihlus matched his pace to hers. At the intersection, she stopped. Nihlus tossed another grenade towards those still shadowing them before they surged around the corner.

“That door up on the left. Ours is the closest ship.”

Nobody jumped out at them, so they only had to deal with those still following. She gritted her teeth and forced her body to move faster, knowing that the grenade would only have slowed them down. She slammed her fist over the panel and the door opened to reveal several ships. Nihlus followed behind, but didn’t pause as she did; he knew which one he wanted already.

“Shepard, disable the lock as best as you can and then come aboard.”

“Yes, sir.”

She engaged the lock and set about dismantling the power supply. They would have to cut their way in now. She shambled her way over to the ship, beginning to list to one side. She engaged the lock on the door as soon as she was inside and just as the ship rumbled to life. She poked around the small vessel and found what was the galley. Almost all of the rations were suitable for a human and she gratefully grabbed several of the bars and a couple of bottles of water. She ripped open the first bar and munched on it as she headed towards the cockpit. The little ship rocketed out of the base and through the field that had camouflaged the small opening. As it left, the vessel lurched to the side, throwing Lily into the wall. The VI droned a warning about the ship’s shield status. 

“Fuck, someone was in the bay and now they are escaping.”

The food and water fell out of her hands as she fell into the seat next to Nihlus. “I’m more concerned about them shooting us down.”

Nihlus swore something as his fingers flew along the console. In a moment a static filled connection with the _Intrepid_ was established. 

Not bothering to wait for an acknowledgement, he began to speak. “Captain, sending you coordinates of a second base. Orbital strike it. They are planning to hit Mindoir. Found -”

At that point the ship went dark for a moment before Nihlus adjusted something.

“Damn it, communications is down. Shepard, use that targeting program there to return fire on them while I try and avoid taking any more hits.”

Lily turned her attention to using the weapons system that he had pointed out. The controls were easy to use and in a few moments she was able to return fire on their enemy. She managed to land at least one indirect hit before the other ship accelerated away from them.

“They are trying to get away!”

“I see that. Calculating their most likely trajectory. They are definitely heading for Mindoir’s system. We won’t let them get away.”

A shockwave from the base exploding behind them threw the little ship, and the pair held onto their chairs to prevent the violent movement from tossing them around. Nihlus worked silently as he stabilized the systems and sent their ship after the other one. 

As soon as Nihlus relaxed into the chair, she offered him some water. He held it between his thighs while he worked the OSD into his omni-tool and began pulling up the data.

“I grabbed everything that sounded relevant after I found that first message stating their objective.”

He made a non-committal grunt as his eyes flicked rapidly over the data. His wrist fell into his lap with a thud. 

“What?” Lily asked.

“They have a base on a nearby asteroid in that system, that can be dealt with easily enough. However, we can’t let this ship escape; they may have bombs or some other nasty surprise waiting for the civilians there.”

“We have to stop them, sir.”

“Loved ones there?”

“My mom. She’s still on Mindoir,” Lily said, the softness of her voice at odds with the hard gleam in her eyes.

“We will.” 

The conviction in his voice had her nodding in agreement. Together they would stop them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help on this chapter, thank you! And another thank you to the readers for your continued support. Thank you!


	33. Chapter 33

Captain Victus looked up when his second walked up to his station.

“Sir, we just received a transmission; voice analysis confirms it as coming from Spectre Kryik,” she began.

“What? Play it for me.”

She pulled up the entry on his terminal and played it. After it finished, he started it over again. _What had he found? The missing scouts or something else?_

“Did the coordinates get through?”

“Yes, sir, they did.”

“Order the frigates to get to the coordinates ASAP and make sure nothing comes or goes from that location until we can get there.”

“Yes, sir!” 

She gave a crisp salute and stalked off to begin carrying out his orders. He strode up towards the cockpit, but was stopped before he reached it. One of the analysts spun their chair around before bounding to their feet with a salute.

“Sir! We just picked up a large explosion coming from the surface of the planet!”

“Show me.”

He dropped back into his seat and pulled up the footage of the thermal image of the planet. He played it back for the Captain.

“Where did that occur?”

“Approximately at the same coordinates where the team was lost.”

Victus nodded. At least that outpost wouldn’t be causing any more problems.

“Good. Let me know if you spot anything else.”

“Of course, sir!”

The pilot glanced his way at the sound of his boots.

“Sir. We’ve picked up two small vessels that left the planet just ahead of that explosion.”

“Did one of them transmit that message from the Spectre?”

“We believe so; neither of them is answering the comm though. We were unable to get a lock on which one it was before the transmission ended, sir.”

“Understood. Head us to the coordinates XO Valonis issued to the patrol.”

“Yes, sir.”

***  
Garrus managed to stay awake throughout his entire orientation. It had been a win, as far as he was concerned. It had helped that he had seen the light on his omni-tool flash, indicating that he had a message awaiting him. Knowing Lily, there was bound to be something inappropriate in it or at least he could hope so, so he would save it for reading when he was finished for the day and he could enjoy it in private. His eyes frequently strayed to watch the time, but at least he hadn’t nodded off like the salarian next to him. When the instructor finally released them, he waved off the offers to go to one of the local bars. There was something more important he wanted to do tonight.

He stopped at a little food stand on his way back to the tiny apartment he currently called home. His father had offered to let him stay at their family home, but no way was he going to stay there; not when he and Lily were so close to getting some privacy. He dropped his dinner on the small bar that served as his table or desk before setting the locks behind him. It wasn’t the safest place to live, but he figured any criminals would think twice before taking a chance on hitting the home of someone in C-Sec armor.

A glass of water joined the carton of food. Although he would have preferred the expensive bottle of wine that sat inside his cooling unit, however that was being saved for a very special occasion. He pulled out a strip of meat, not bothering with the niceties of plate or silverware, before opening his omni-tool and looking at the first message. His mandibles splayed wide in a smile at seeing it was indeed from Lily. He read it through once before going back over it once more. A few chuckles escaped at the thought of that poor recruit being pitted against Lily and Serlo. True, he was with Relmos, but it was obvious that hadn’t been enough.

He grabbed another slice of meat just before he opened the second message. His eyes narrowed as he went over the short message, once then twice. He checked the sender; it wasn’t from Creon who often had questionable taste in what was funny. It was from Ceryx, and that was when he knew it wasn’t a joke. The meat fell with a dull thud against the surface, followed closely by his hand. 

***  
Nihlus adjusted a few more controls before addressing the ship’s VI.

“Computer, status.”

“Warning. Communication relay is inoperable. Warning. Aft thruster is currently operating at ninety percent. End of warnings.”

“Hopefully that message was received by the _Intrepid_ ,” Lily said.

“They got it. They might have to verify that it was my voice before they act, but they better take out that base while we tie up this loose end in front of us.”

It only took a few minutes for him to set up the on-board navigation to take them to Mindoir’s system. The fuel cells were full - one of the reasons he had chosen this vessel. He glanced over at his companion. A faint frown crossed her face and one hand fell to hold her side.

“Come on, let’s see if there are any medical kits on board, and check how your wound is doing. Gunshot, I presume?”

“Yeah, it stings a bit is all. I’ll be okay.”

He grinned. “You don’t have to prove how tough you are to me, Pink Commando. It will take at least a day to get to the next star system, so we have some downtime.”

A soft laugh escaped her. “I knew I should have come up with a better name. How long was I out of it?”

She pushed herself out of the chair and moved slowly towards the back of the ship. Nihlus was only a few steps behind her.

“You and your partner went missing,” he glanced down at his omni-tool, “yesterday morning. It took me nearly a day to find the entrance and get inside of their base undetected. Not to mention coming across you.”

“You said that they thought I was dead? Crap! That means they notified my Mom. Double crap! I bet one of my friends sent a message to Garrus as well.”

He nodded as they walked. He went through numerous drawers and containers before finding anything remotely like a first aid kit. He gave her a pointed look and gestured at the top half of the leathers she had taken from the asari. With a sigh, she pulled up the top, showing that the bandage that encompassed her waist now had more red than before. He carefully removed the bandage to look at the wound underneath. He dug through the kit, pulled up a tube of something, and slathered it along the stitches.

“Garrus doesn’t sound like a human name.”

“He’s turian. We went through basic together and he is in C-Sec now. And there is no way for me to make sure that he knows that I’m okay.”

Nihlus nodded. “Not until we get communications working again. Well, the stitches are holding at least. This should lessen the chance of infection for now. Looks like it was a through and through shot; they must have wanted you alive for a reason.”

She grunted. “Hard to interrogate a dead body.”

“Ah, that would explain them going to all that trouble then.”

Using a fresh roll of bandage, he applied a new dressing to her wound.

“This will have to do until we can get back to the Citadel.”

“Citadel?”

Nihlus gave a soft laugh. “Unless you would rather be left on Mindoir?”

“No, thank you, sir. I just expected you would bring me back to the _Intrepid_.”

He shook his head. “As soon as we deal with this ship and make sure that the Intrepid has dealt with the other base, I need to return to the Citadel. Besides, after being shot I figured you deserved some downtime. Why don’t you lie down and get some rest and give your injury some time to heal?”

“You have to be tired too, sir. I could take first watch -,” she began.

“It’s Nihlus,” he said with a wave of a hand. “I think we can dispense with the sirs.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Lily.”

“Alright, Lily, I won’t lie. A few hours down sounds good, so you can take first watch. At least the thermographic sensor is still working, so keep an eye on it to make sure that the other ship is staying on course for that system. If it changes, get me. The VI should alert you if anything else comes up, and of course call if me if it does.”

Lily gave him a grin before heading up to the cockpit. He watched the human leave for a moment before looking for somewhere dark to close his eyes. He programmed his omni-tool to alert him in three hours before settling down on a bed he hoped had been cleaned before the Protheans went extinct. 

She settled into the pilot’s seat. The adrenaline slowly drained from her body, but the ache in her side kept her grounded. Falling asleep while on watch with a Spectre onboard was not something that was going to happen to her. The computer displays were straightforward, so she pulled up the systems she was supposed to keep an eye on and soon she settled back to look at the stars. She rarely had a chance to see the galaxy like this. Military ships weren’t exactly known for having portholes for their occupants to look out of for fun. With communications down, even Nihlus’s tool wouldn’t be able to send out a message. They needed to end this threat quickly. Her mouth quirked upward in a grin at the idea that she might get a chance to have an unexpected visit with Garrus. Maybe the patrol had left the range of the comm buoy before anyone had been able to send out a message to either him or her mother. Well, if they did go out, at least she could look forward to ‘I’m not dead’ sex with Garrus. Her mother, on the other hand, would just use this as another reason that she should leave the military. Never mind the fact that it was Mindoir this time that she was helping a Council Spectre save. If that didn’t give her career a boost, well, nothing would. 

Nihlus wasn’t exactly what she had expected; he was far more personable than she had thought someone who worked directly for the Council would be. His trust in her was a heady feeling. If only there was something she could have done differently and saved Filon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help, thank you! And another to the readers as well, thank you guys!


	34. Chapter 34

A shout of her name that reverberated through the little ship caused Lily to jerk awake. She shoved her boots back on and stumbled towards the cockpit, stopping only for a second to grab a few ration bars from the galley. She had demolished one before she even fell into the co-pilot’s seat.

“What happened?”

Nihlus shook his head. “Nothing really. We just entered the system. The second base is on the far side of Mindoir, but so far, they are holding course for the planet itself. What can you tell me about it?”

Lily snorted. “It’s just a bunch of small farming communities. Unless they are human, they will stand out down there. The only aliens are the turians stationed at the garrisons. I don’t get why they would hit this colony. There really is nothing of value here, well, besides the food they grow.”

“How long since you’ve been back?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t returned since I enlisted.”

“It’s a garden world and people are always finding artifacts from extinct races on them. If they found something rare enough and word leaked out, well, a collector will pay an exorbitant price to get them first, since technically they belong to the government.”

“Enough credits to get a merc band willing to attack?”

Nihlus nodded. “One of the smaller files that you copied over mentioned where they would hand over the ‘item’ to an unnamed individual. My guess is this must be something quite unusual for this person to go to this length and funds to obtain it.”

Nihlus’s talon tapped on a screen and a projected trajectory of the ship they had chased into this system appeared. 

“Looks like they are afraid they might lead us to their second base. Not that it matters; the _Intrepid_ will be taking care of that soon enough.”

“Won’t the planetary defense system pick up our ships when we descend down to the planet?”

“Yeah, and with our comms out we can expect at least a patrol to greet us.”

“Won’t there be one for them as well?”

“Doubtful. This big of an operation, I would wager they have an inside person, which means they have the proper codes already. So, we have to make sure we land near enough to them so they can’t use that to their advantage.”

The ship in front of them didn’t drop down in altitude in order to descend down to the planet. It stayed high above the planet, bypassing a direct route until they had circled a large continent below them and then the pirates dipped down and into the atmosphere. Nihlus’s fingers worked the console as he issued commands to their vessel. 

The little ship shuddered as it began its descent. A topographic map appeared on one side of the overhead display. A red line indicated that the path they were currently on would have them landing on an island off the coast of one of the larger continents. Lily leaned closer, staring at the map as she tried to remember her geography from school. 

“It looks like they are heading to New Venice.”

Nihlus glanced over at her, his head cocked slightly to one side.

“It’s a small island, not suitable for growing anything, but the colony had hopes of turning that island into a resort eventually.”

“Ah, and while prepping the ground for building, they must have uncovered something.”

An alert flashed on the screen and the computer droned, “Warning. Unknown ships on intercept course.”

“There is our escort,” Nihlus muttered. He tapped on his omni-tool and swore something that Lily didn’t recognize. “They are too far out; I can’t contact them with my omni-tool with the ship’s communication system down. Guess we do this the hard way.”

The three gunships took up positions all around their ship and through their movements it became obvious they wanted them to land. Nihlus could only growl as he watched the computer show the other ship zip off towards the opposite side of the island from where they had been forced down. He brought them down to rest in a sandy alcove. Nihlus headed for the door and gestured for Lily to fall in behind him.

“Keep behind me and your gun down. I’m pretty sure this should be soldiers from the garrison, but I like to be prepared for anything.”

He flung the hatch open and found himself facing a squad of turian soldiers. He held his hands open as he stared back at them.

“Nihlus Kryik, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance,” he barked out.

“Crap.”

“Scan him; verify his identity,” a soldier said, gesturing with her rifle towards Nihlus.

One of the soldiers stepped forward but stayed out of arm’s reach of Nihlus. His omni-tool lit up as it performed its scan. He glanced down at it before turning to his squad leader.

“Confirmed, ma’am.”

The soldiers dropped their weapons a little as they relaxed. Nihlus strode towards them.

“While I’m grateful you didn’t shoot us down -” he began.

“A patrol notified us that there were two ships heading this way - one with a Spectre on board.”

“That ship we were following was from a pirate base that had plans to attack this colony. What’s on this island?”

“There is an active archaeological dig not far from here, but that isn’t common knowledge.”

“Just as I thought. Follow us over there. We don’t know how many are on that ship, but the bulk of their attack force should be neutralized by now.”

“Yes, sir!”

Nihlus returned to the cockpit, Lily only a step behind him. Once more, the little ship lifted off. He worked on the computer and located where the other vessel had gone. The gunships followed in their wake. It didn’t take them long to find the site. Heavy machinery littered the area as crews worked to free artifacts from the earth. Below them, there was no sign of the ship that they had chased. Nihlus continued past the site until he spotted the other vessel resting among the dunes along the coast. They landed near it while the gunships descended in a circle around it as well.

Lily followed Nihlus as he crept towards the other ship. Their weapons were out and ready and the soldiers had their weapons aimed at the hatch of the other vehicle as well. Nihlus gestured for Lily to take the right side while he took left. His palm slapped the panel and the hatch slid open. Together they moved inside. Each small area was checked before they finally lowered their weapons.

“They must have headed towards the dig site. Come on, this is probably a last ditch effort to recover whatever it is they are after.”

Lily nodded. “And their cut just got a lot bigger.”

Nihlus snorted. “Especially if they think the patrol shot us down - then the risk is minimal.”

They left the ship and rejoined the soldiers outside. Nihlus approached the squad leader. “Can you have some of your people watching these ships to make sure they don’t double back and try and escape?”

“Of course, Spectre.”

“Good, have the rest of your people come with us. Let’s see if we can root out the rest of this gang once and for all.”

She pointed at two of her people. “Toiser and Vauher - guard these ships. Contact me if anyone at all approaches either of them.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

At a gesture, the rest of the squad fell in behind the Spectre and the human. 

“Where is this site from here?” Nihlus asked.

“Follow me, sir.”

She stepped briskly forward, taking the lead as she led them through the scrubby trees that grew at the edge of the beach area. The path narrowed enough that they had to go single file until it finally crested a hill. Below them was the work site. Asari, salarian, turian, and human all mingled about the area. Nihlus groaned.

“So much for picking anyone out the easy way.”

They slid and hopped down the loose earth of the hillside until they reached the edge of the work area. A few looked up at the unexpected arrival of a group of soldiers. One asari was going over a datapad, but upon spotting them she put it down and headed in their direction.

“Excuse me, but this area is off limits to the public. We have many sensitive -”

“Nihlus Kryik, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. And you are?”

“Doctor T’Soni. What is going on?”

“Anyone come through here in the last hour or so, Doctor?”

She gazed around at the people. “I don’t see anyone besides the usual workers. If that’s all, I need to get back to work cataloguing all the amazing artifacts we have found so far.”

“You do have security here?”

“Of course.”

“Alert them that there are wanted fugitives in the area and to consider them armed and dangerous.”

She nodded quickly. “I will.”

Nihlus turned back to the squad leader. “How well do you know the area here?”

She shook her head. “Not well, but I can pull up a map for this sector.”

The display from her omni-tool provided a rendering of the island. Nihlus studied it for a moment before pointing out an area.

“There, that would be the most likely place for them to hole up; it looks to be the only source of fresh water on the island.”

“Do you want us to stay here and guard the site, sir?” the Sergeant asked. 

“I doubt they will come here during the day and we could use the help finding whoever was on that ship. Will there be anyone else on this island besides this crew here?”

She shook her head. “Negative, sir. This island is uninhabited and while the site is active it is off-limits to everyone but authorized personnel.”

Nihlus pointed out one avenue towards the water source. “Take your people and cover this area towards that spot. We’ll come from this direction. Take them alive if you can, but dead works just as well.”

“You heard him, people. Fan out,” the squad leader barked out.

Her people spread out from beside her and they made their way into the brush. Nihlus headed in a different direction with Lily off to one side of him. Their speed was slow as they tried to minimize their noise while moving through the heavy brush.

A shot rang out near them and reflex had them ducking behind whatever cover they could find. Lily tried to get a look at where it came from, but the shrubs hid their prey too well. Nihlus gestured with a hand for her to come closer to him. She nodded and slunk towards him, being careful to make as little noise as possible. When she was next to him, he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

“You are smaller than me and not wearing heavy armor. You have the best chance of sneaking about and finding them. I’ll try and keep their attention on me. Disable them if you can, kill if you can’t. I want this over with.”

She nodded her understanding and moved back the way she came while Nihlus deliberately put one heavy booted foot down on a branch near him, cracking it. 

“Surrender,” he shouted, “and you’ll get to live. If I have to hunt you down, well, it will be a death sentence for you.”

Another shot rang out, but the heavy brush was as much a hindrance to their shooting as it was to those hunting them. She slipped along the edge of a large tree, still working her way towards where it sounded like the gun had gone off. She didn’t know how far she had come, but finally she spotted a green that didn’t belong to this area. She eased forward, creeping along on her stomach until she could see them more clearly. A pair of armed salarians were in front of her; one was a vivid green and that was what she had spotted. However, the red of her hair must have been just as easy to spot, as one brought his gun up to point it in her direction. She had her pistol up and fired off several shots. The green one managed to get a few shots off, however the worst they did was cause bark from the trees around her to fly off in all directions. She returned fire and he dropped to the ground, clutching his weapon still. She waited a moment, but when no one moved, she eased her way upward and entered the little copse they had taken shelter in. She quickly picked up their guns and threw them off to one side. 

“All clear,” she yelled.

Lily listened to the sound of Nihlus crashing through the underbrush as he joined her in the little thicket. He kneeled down and checked the pair. Both were dead. He pulled an OSD out of one pocket and slipped it into his own before standing back up.

“Good job, Lily.”

The sound of more brush breaking heralded the arrival of the patrol. They burst through the area, weapons at the ready, but lowered them at the sight of the two downed salarians.

“Sergeant, if you don’t mind, would you take care of these bodies?”

“Of course, sir. We’ll take care of everything.”

Lily fell in behind Nihlus as they made their way back towards the ships. She was a little surprised when he headed for the other ship instead of the one they came on.

“Are we going to take that one to the Citadel?”

Nihlus glanced back at her. “No, I know what is wrong with ours and I can patch the communication system, and the thruster isn’t that bad. I know you hit their ship, so rather than spending the time getting a rundown on what is wrong, I think we will just stick to ours. While you were sleeping, I had the computer give me a list of everything needed to fix the communication system. So, I’m hoping I can scavenge the right parts to repair ours.”

“Tell me what I can do to help.”

They fell into a rhythm, but it still took the better part of the afternoon to gather the components and install them on their ship.

Nihlus replaced the last fried circuit and slammed the metal cover back into place. He input a few more commands and then activated the computer.

“Computer - connect to the Mindoir system. Authorization - Spectre.” He typed in his code and waited for the systems to link. “There - try it now.”

Lily input the code for her mother’s console at home - one of the few she knew by heart. She smoothed down her hair while she waited for her mother to answer. The screen flickered to life and she got a glimpse of her mother’s profile.

“Whatever you are selling -”

“Mom, it’s me, Lily.”

Her mother turned towards the screen then. Her eyes widened when they took in the visage of her only child.

“Lily,” she said, her voice barely audible. “I knew those bastards were lying to me!”

Lily shook her head. “I was shot by pirates and my squad only found pools of blood where we were ambushed. My partner wasn’t as fortunate.”

“Where are you now?”

Lily laughed. “Just leaving Mindoir. I assisted a Spectre in stopping an attack here. We are heading back to the Citadel now.”

“A Spectre? What is going on, Lily?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll message you the whole thing, Mom. I just wanted you to know I was okay.”

“Honey, you need to come home. Can’t you see it’s too dangerous out there?”

“Mom, I’m not going back. As soon as I can, I’ll be applying to C-Sec anyway. But until then, this work I’m doing matters. I’m protecting innocent civilians, like you. What would I be there?” she asked, bitterness in her voice that even Nihlus could hear. “Just another colonist stuck out in the middle of nowhere. No, Mom, I’m not going back. I need to go. I love you, Mom.”

A long sigh left Hannah’s lips. “I love you too. Please try not to get shot again.”

“I will.”

Lily disconnected the call with a sigh. Nihlus watched her for a moment.

“Citadel, right?”

“Yeah, at least this call will go better. You can connect to an omni-tool, right?”

Nihlus chuckled. “Have a little faith; I am a Spectre, you know.”

His fingers flew as he typed in several things before nodding at Lily. She input the code to Garrus’s tool. After a minute, it became apparent he wasn’t going to answer it. Lily looked over at Nihlus.

“It’s not that late on the Citadel, is it?”

“Nope. It’s well after work hours, so unless he goes to bed really early -”

“He doesn’t. Maybe he has it turned off, since he is at home and expects things to go to his console there, but I don’t have that information. Can you connect me to a Titus Vakarian on the Citadel? That’s his dad. Maybe he knows how to get hold of him.”

Nihlus leaned back and gave Lily an appraising look. “You are seeing the son of one of the stars of C-Sec? Really?” He gave a soft laugh. “Oh, I bet he was just thrilled that his only son is with a human.”

Lily sat up straighter in her chair. “He was actually quite civil to me. Can you get hold of him for me or not?”

Nihlus grinned. “I can. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Lily glared at him while he typed in several more commands into the console. He pushed one last button and leaned back in his seat. Once more, the screen flickered to life and the face of an older turian appeared. His mandibles flicked in and out several times in the span of just a few seconds.

“Mr. Vakarian, I’m sorry to bother you, but I can’t get hold of Garrus.”

“Miss Shepard, I was given the assumption that you were dead.”

“Uh, long story, but I was shot and taken by pirates. Can you tell me how to get hold of Garrus?” Her voice was a little more urgent than the last time.

“I’m not surprised he isn’t answering. Call his tool in thirty minutes. I assure you, he will answer then.”

The call turned to static as he disconnected the connection. Nihlus glanced over at Lily.

“I’m pleasantly surprised. Though I feel a little sorry for your boyfriend, because his father is about to come down on him.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The tones you couldn’t hear. I’m guessing that he hasn’t handled your loss well and his dad has run out of patience trying to deal with him,” Nihlus said with a thoughtful hum.

Lily thought about asking for a time readout while her fingertips tapped against the edge of the seat. Nihlus sighed and pulled up a timer display on the screen. She threw him a grateful smile and watched it slowly click down. She opened her mouth when it finally showed a minute to go, but Nihlus was already working his magic opening the channel again. He nodded when it was ready for her. Her fingers trembled as she typed in the code once more. This time the screen came to life and Garrus appeared.

“Lily.” That one word was more breathed than said.

“Garrus.” Her eyes narrowed as she took in his sunken eyes and dull skin. “You look like crap. Have you been sick?”

Garrus looked away for a moment before he barked out a rough laugh. “Something like that. What in hell happened? Why did I get a message saying you were dead?” His voice rose as he spoke.

Lily sighed. “Me and my partner were shot. He died, but the pirates took me and patched me up.” She grinned at him. “That proved to be a fatal mistake. I got free and ran into Spectre Kryik and we’ve been busy saving Mindoir.”

“Why didn’t you at least send a message?” Distress echoed in his subtones such that it made Nihlus wince.

Lily held up her still bandaged wrist. “The bastards cut out my omni-tool implant and, well, the ship we took got hit and we lost the comm systems. We finally got it patched and I called you right after my Mom.”

Garrus’s shoulders slumped a little. “Are you heading back to the _Intrepid_?”

“No, we are going to the Citadel. The Spectre has something he has to do there. Uh, Nihlus, you did let Captain Victus know I’m alive and heading there?” Lily asked as she turned towards her companion.

“Hmm, oh, yes. I sent him a message a few moments ago and got a rather testy reply - something about making off with his damned scout and I should take my Spectre authority and put it someplace I don’t think it was meant to go,” Nihlus said with a little laugh.

Garrus leaned forward, his eyes bright. “When?”

“We should get there sometime late tomorrow,” Nihlus said.

A voice behind Garrus had him spinning around to look at his father. 

“Good. Now, I expect you to be in my office tomorrow before your shift begins.”

Titus leaned closer so now his face could be seen behind Garrus’s. “I’m glad you are alright, Miss Shepard. Now I will bid you all a good night.”

The display went dark. Nihlus relaxed into his chair even as his eyes closed.

“Might as well get some rest. With any luck, the rest of this trip will be quiet.”

Lily climbed to her feet. Every limb suddenly felt heavy as exhaustion finally caught up to her.

“Thanks again, Nihlus. Sure you don’t want the cot back there?”

One eye cracked open. “Uh, no thanks. I prefer it up here. It smells better.”

Lily collapsed into the bed, grateful for a soft place to close her eyes. Her lips curved upward as she fell asleep to the thought of seeing Garrus tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help and suggestions, I couldn't do this without you! And another to the readers, I'm delighted you guys are still enjoying this!


	35. Chapter 35

Lily leaned forward in her chair, her nose almost to the window. Nihlus laughed at the sight.

“I’m not sure if you are leaning forward in order to try and make the ship go faster or are just that mesmerized by the view.”

“I’ve never seen the Citadel like this. I’ve only been there on the _Intrepid_ and there are no ports down in the engine room. Damn, I wish I had an omni-tool so I could record this and send it to my mom.”

“Ah, it is an amazing sight. And look, we’ll be there well after your boyfriend will be off shift.”

Lily took her eyes off the sight before her to turn towards him. “And I suppose you sent him a message already, letting him know which docking bay we will be at?”

He glanced over at her. “I didn’t think you would mind.”

She flashed him a smile. “No, I don’t. It saves me having to find a public terminal and contacting him myself, so thank you.”

He inclined his head a little. “You’re welcome.”

The time it took to arrive at their designated spot seemed to be in the range of hours. Lily didn’t even wait for Nihlus to finish all the docking procedures before she was up and at the hatch, waiting to open it up.

“Clear,” Nihlus said.

Lily threw open the door. Workers bustled around the area, working on the ships docked all along the bay, but no sign of the one she needed to find. She spotted a gate blocking access to this space and looked beyond it for a certain person. She found him finally, waving at her. He used his size to force a path towards the gate. Her feet barely touched the ground under her and she sped off. She had barely put one step through the checkpoint when alarms went off. The C-Sec officer on duty put up a hand to stop her from going any further.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you are coming up in the system as dead. Hang on while we try and get the machine working properly.”

Lily sighed. “Well, to be honest, they thought I was.”

“Huh?”

Nihlus stepped up around Lily and went to the man’s console. He input a few things and motioned for Lily to come through.

“See, you should have waited for me.”

“I forgot about the checkpoint. What did you do?” she asked, stepping through the gate without the alarm going off this time.

“You’re alive again. Try not to change that, Pink.”

“Thanks, Nihlus.”

The Spectre nodded to her and the turian waiting for her before he strode off into the crowd. Garrus swept Lily up in his arms, but at the little cry of distress she made, he quickly released her.

“Crap. I’m sorry -” he began.

“It’s okay; it just pulled on the stitches a little.”

“I know a clinic; they can take a look at you.” He took her hand in his and began to tug her in a direction.

Lily pulled back a little, forcing him to stop. “Oh, hell no. I’ll get it looked at when I am back on the _Intrepid_. If you’ll loan me the credits, I desperately need a change of clothes, a shower, and a real meal.”

Garrus chuckled a little and rubbed his nose with one talon. “Yeah, I didn’t want to mention that -”

Lily poked him in the side. “What, that I smell like a dead varren? Then don’t.”

“You never have to ask to borrow credits from me. I am curious though, why did he call you Pink? Was it because of your hair? Although that is definitely red.”

Lily sighed. “Because when I first ran into him after I broke free, well, I was only in my underwear.”

Garrus’s mandibles fluttered for a second as he thought about that. “Oh! I told you that pink set was a horrible color, and now we can consider it unlucky as well.”

“Yes, well, they were on sale and comfortable and how was I to know that I would end up wandering around in my underwear?”

He chuckled a little and took her much smaller hand in his. Hand-in-hand they wove their way through the throngs of people as she led them to her favorite store. Even with not trying on anything and only picking up items in her size, it still took much longer than she wanted to before they were finished. But through it all, Garrus walked beside her, ever patient as he waited for her to get whatever it was she thought she needed. His presence was a strength that she had sorely missed since he had left the _Intrepid_. That thought had her flashing him a smile, which he returned along with a raise of his eyebrow plate. But she just nodded that she was done, so he directed her back towards where the apartment was. 

“The place I found is kind of small and a little shabby, but -”

She pulled him to a stop. “Garrus, I don’t give a damn. After all I’ve been through, it will seem like a fancy vacation, so long as you are with me.”

The contented hum that had been threatening to spill out finally broke free. So he did the only thing he could to show her that he felt the same way - he gently pulled her against his chest while his head dipped down to rest against hers. Neither one of them gave a damn that people had to go around them.

She pulled back enough to gaze up at him, a soft smile on her face. “Have you heard anything more about those stupid forms?”

Garrus nodded. “I went to my dad asking if he knew anything about what the holdup was. He said he would look into it. So now we have to wait some more.”

“Ugh, god only knows how long that will take. Well, let’s get me cleaned up and burn what I am wearing before we get some food.”

“You want to go out to a restaurant after?”

“Nah, let’s just grab something and eat at -”

“Our place,” Garrus interjected.

“Not like I’ve contributed anything -”

“You will. Come on, it’s not too far now. A salarian runs the complex. He seems okay.”

They had just barely entered the lobby when a salarian held up a hand and, clutching a box, rushed towards them. At Lily’s curious glance, Garrus shook his head, at an obvious loss as to what was going on.

“Vakarian! What’s going on? Why did a Spectre leave this for you and he said I could only hand it to you? He said you have to deliver this to a Pink Commando. Is it dangerous? Are you in trouble? Because I don’t want any troublemakers here!”

Lily’s mouth dropped at the amazing rate of speech he managed without stopping to breathe.

“What?” Garrus managed to blurt out.

He thrust the box towards Garrus as if it was something dangerous. He barely grabbed it before the salarian had retreated to the relative safety of his desk. He handed it over to Lily with a grin.

“So, uh, you must be the Pink Commando?”

“I’m going to kill him,” Lily growled out.

Garrus laughed and led her down the hall towards their place. He opened the door and ushered her inside. She placed the packages she had been carrying down and set about opening the box that Nihlus had left her.

“What is it?”

Lily pulled out a note and an implant.

“What does it say?”

_Pink,_

_I figured you needed one of these. It only took asking one or two people why there was a hold-up with your application to C-Sec (that wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I know they need good people like you) - your boyfriend has been ‘persistent’ (that’s the nicest word I can think of for what they really said) with trying to get you in. You should be notified of your acceptance shortly and not to worry; it will count for your service to the Hierarchy. I made sure of that. See I used my powers for good, although I’m sure it will annoy someone somewhere anyway. Instead of just protecting their interests, you’ll be doing that same thing for all species now._

_Oh, and that dig site? Well, it’s safe, and they found a large cache of artifacts from a previously unknown extinct species. Needless to say, the Council and the Hierarchy were very happy we stopped the pirates. And I made sure that their gratitude extended to you - part of what helped push your paperwork through._

_It was a pleasure working with you. I wish the two of you the best._

_Nihlus_

Lily handed the note to Garrus. His eyes widened as they took in the message Nihlus had left her.

“I can’t believe he did that for you. Put that in and see if your notice came through.”

Lily shook her head, already removing the clothing she had been stuck in for days.

“Not until I get clean. Throw those out. I never want to see them, or smell them, again.”

His eyes narrowed when she removed the bandage that covered her middle, exposing the ugly wounds.

“Dammit, I knew I should have made you go to the clinic.”

Lily ignored his comment and looked about. “Bathroom?”

“Through there,” he said as he pointed at a door off to one side.

“Still not going tonight,” she said as she dropped the last of her coverings on the floor. 

Garrus stood outside the door. There was no way they could both fit in there at the same time. He leaned his head against the door, taking solace in the sound of her movements inside.

“Oh my god. A hot shower.”

“Well, mostly hot, for about five minutes anyway.”

“Long enough to get clean at least.”

When he heard the water shut off, he moved back from the door.

“There are some bandages in the cabinet under the sink. Grab them, and there should be some disinfectant as well under there,” he called out as he grabbed her discarded clothes and shoved them in the disposal unit.

She came out brandishing the items in her hands. He took them from her and dropped to his knees so he could get a better look at her injury. His hands were steady as he carefully applied the ointment to her. Now, he was grateful that he had given in to his urges and bought all this first aid stuff when he first moved in. He just hadn’t known it would be her that would be needing it first. Being this close to her when she was naked should have had his blood stirring, but all he felt was grateful. Grateful that she was alive and he had the chance to do this. He wrapped a strip of the gauze around her middle and gently fastened it. Even though his task was done, he didn’t get up. Instead, he carefully wound his arms around her, placing his head against her warm body. He needed to feel that she was warm and alive and with him.

“Garrus?” she asked. Her hands cradled his head to her. Her fingers stroked whatever part of him she could reach.

“If I had been there -”

“It could have been worse.”

“The only way it could have been worse was if you had really died there. I thought I lost you.”

“No, a lot more people could have died. They had Serlo and Relmos checking far away from where the pirates actually were. If Nihlus hadn’t known where to find them they might have been able to carry out their plans and innocent people on Mindoir would have died.”

His hands dropped away slowly and with a sigh, he got to his feet. She brushed a kiss across his lips before donning her new clothes. She grabbed the implant from where she had left it and handed it to him.

“Give me a hand?”

He nodded. The place where her old one had been was mostly healed up, so he reluctantly had to cut it open. He quickly slipped the tool inside and wound another strip of bandage around her wrist. He watched as she quickly set up the new machine and then listened to it ping several times. She opened up the first message and quickly turned it towards him.

“He did it! This is the acceptance from C-Sec and telling me where to report tomorrow morning for my orientation.”

She opened the next message. “Wow, that was quick. This is from Captain Victus. He says that he put in a reference for me and if I should ever change my mind, the Hierarchy can always use good soldiers like me.”

“He did the same thing for me. I’m glad he did it for you as well. Are you ready to go get something to eat?”

“Am I ever! I’m going to have to watch myself, having access to all this great food on the Citadel -”

“Hmm, I know of a great exercise program that we can do together,” he said, using the low rumbling voice she loved.

She laughed. “I’m sure you do.”

She reached up and caressed his cheek. He covered her hand with his. The laughter was gone from her eyes and she looked at him in a way that made his stomach flutter.

“At one point I thought I might never see you again as well. But the thought of you helped me break free and kept me going.”

“Lily. I’m, crap - I love you. Thinking you were gone for good, it felt like the weight of a hundred worlds had been dropped on me. I couldn’t breathe -”

“I love you too. We are a team. If something ever happens again, promise me - you will fight on, no matter what happens.”

“I will, for you.”

She smiled at him. “Good. Now, let’s get some dinner. Tomorrow will be the start of our new life here, kicking ass on the Citadel.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Somehow I think your instructor would disagree with that assessment, but the rest of it sounds perfect.”

He pulled up his tool and sent her the access codes to the apartment.

“There. It’s official now, we’re living together.”

She took his hand and pulled him out of the flat. “Come on. I’m sure you scoped out someplace nearby we can grab something to eat.”

“Are you kidding? That was my first prerequisite when I was looking for a place. How close was it to food vendors.”

“You’re so smart.”

As they wove their way through the throngs of people, they often drew looks, for it seemed an odd alliance. But if anyone had asked them, they would have answered that they were two former Hierarchy soldiers just starting their life together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A great big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and support throughout this whole project - THANK YOU! And another to the readers for all their support - Thank you!


End file.
